884 
THE RURAL'NEW-YORKER. 
December 23 
Farmers’ Club. 
[Every query must be accompanied by the 
name and address of the writer to insure atten¬ 
tion. Before asking a question, please see 
whether It is not answered in our advertising 
columns. Ask only a few questions at one time. 
Put questions on a separate piece of paper.] 
Van Deman’s Fruit Notes. 
ALB SORTS OF QUESTIONS ANSWERED. 
Pruning Questions. 
1. Will it do as well to prune apple, pear 
and cherry trees during the open weather 
of Winter as in the Spring? 2. Will black 
raspberries be more liable to winterkill and 
break if pruned and tied up now than they 
would if left as they grew until Spring? 
Falls Church, Va. t. m. t. 
1. It will in no wise hurt fruit trees 
more to prune them during the mild 
weather of Winter than to wait until 
Spring 'to do the work. Painting the 
wounds will be of some benefit in pre¬ 
venting decay until they are healed over. 
2. Black raspberry bushes may also 
safely be pruned and tied up during 
mild Winter weather. It is a more com¬ 
mon practice to let them alone until 
Spring, and when winterkilling is over, 
the pruner can tell just how far back to 
cut in order to remove all of the dam¬ 
aged wood. Otherwise, 1 know of no ad¬ 
vantage in waiting until Spring. 
An Unknown Blackberry. 
I have a blackberry that ripens fruit as 
early as the Ohio or Palmer raspberry. It 
is not the Early Harvest. It is perfectly 
hardy. The canes grow very erect, never 
curving, and will grow about six feet high; 
dark colored. 'The fruit is of fair quality, 
good size, and about twice as long as it 
is thick. Is it an old variety or something 
new? It is quite productive. a. r. s. 
Van Wert, O. 
As the writer plainly says that the 
blackberry under question is not the 
Early Harvest, which is a tall, erect- 
growing variety, with very long but 
otherwise small fruit, it is impossible 
for me to say what variety he has. It 
may be a new seedling that has not been 
put before the public sufficiently to be 
generally known. It would seem to be 
a valuable kind and worthy of being 
better known. The only other variety 
besides Early Harvest that it occurs to 
me it might be, is Agawam; but that 
fruit does not ripen so early as is men¬ 
tioned. A good, hardy, large, early 
blackberry with a robust habit of bush, 
is one that the public would like to 
have. Let us hear more of this one. 
Cutting Scions. 
What is the best time for cutting scions 
for grafting? What part of the tree makes 
the best? How should they be cared for, 
from the time they are cut until they are 
used in the Spring? Give the details and 
reasons. p. s. d. 
Ingram, Pa. 
The best time to cut scions is as soon 
as the leaves have fallen from the trees 
in Autumn. There is then no damage to 
the young wood from severe cold, as 
may be the case later. If not done in 
the Fall, then the sooner thereafter the 
better. Every severe cold spell dimin¬ 
ishes the vitality of the branches ex¬ 
posed to it in some degree, or, at least, 
the chances are that it will be so. This 
is the result of evaporation, which is 
sometimes very considerable, and dam¬ 
age or death is the result in extreme 
cases. The longer the cold spell the 
greater the degree of damage to the 
branches exposed to it. 
Cut the best-ripened and strongest- 
looking wood of the last year’s growth 
only. Do not use older wood except 
where the new wood is not to be had. 
Any good, sound wood will grow if it 
has buds on it, but one-year-old wood 
makes the best growth as a graft. Be 
sure that the wood has large, plump 
buds, for that is a sign of vigor and 
ripeness of wood and buds. Such scions 
are usually found in the topmost parts 
of a tree, or on the ends of the thrifty 
side branches. Try to cut from trees 
that are known to bear well, although 
young trees of good parentage, even if 
they are standing in nursery rows, are 
good for scions. Some of the best-bear¬ 
ing trees I ever had I grew from scions 
that I cut from nursery trees. Provide 
strings that will not easily rot, or, bet¬ 
ter still, small willow twigs, which will 
not rot, and take them along to where 
the scions are to be cut, if more than 
one variety be taken at a time. Tie in 
bundles of about 100. Label each one 
instantly, that there be no mistake. I 
usually cut a wide shaving off the butt 
of a big scion, and write the name there 
with a pencil. This rarely fails to re¬ 
main throughout the season. Pack the 
bundle in an abundance of damp saw¬ 
dust, and this may be in boxes for con¬ 
venience in handling. Keep the boxes 
in a very cool cellar, or bury them bod¬ 
ily in the open ground, covering the 
place with trash to prevent severe freez¬ 
ing of the contents below. The scions 
must be kept damp, to prevent evapora¬ 
tion, and cool to avoid any starting of 
the buds to swell until they do so nat¬ 
urally after they are set as grafts. 
Apples for Connecticut. 
Next Spring we expect to set four acres 
to apple trees. Our farm is situated in the 
northwestern corner of Connecticut, alti¬ 
tude 1,400 feet. The trees are to be planted 
on a northwest slope. Can you suggest 
better varieties than Sutton and Hubbard- 
ston for this locality? If these varieties 
were used, what proportion of the orchard 
would you advise setting to each? We 
propose planting trees 35 feet apart each 
way. Would you advise us to put in fillers 
of some earlier-bearing shorter-lived va¬ 
rieties? If so, what sort would you recom¬ 
mend? R - w - R * 
Mill Brook, Conn. 
Sutton and Hubbardston are very good 
apples to plant in northern Connecticut. 
Perhaps there are no better for that sec¬ 
tion. My advice would be to plant about 
half the orchard to each variety. As to 
distance, 35 feet is close enough. Forty 
might be better 40 years from now. I 
would surely plant in other varieties as 
fillers. Wagener, Wealthy and Olden¬ 
burg w'ould be good for the latter pur¬ 
pose, as they all come into bearing very 
early, and would pay for the entire or¬ 
chard before the permanent trees began 
to be profitable. Wagener is a good, red 
Winter apple. Wealthy and Oldenburg 
are both Fall varieties in Connecticut, 
but they are red and handsome, and will 
sell well for that season of the year. 
Influence of Stock; Weeds in Strawberries. 
1. A case has been brought to my notice 
where scions from a Rhode Island Green¬ 
ing, which is a good keeper, were grafted 
on to an early Fall variety, and the fruit, 
which appears the same in every way, has 
lost its keeping qualities. Can you give the 
reason for this? Is it that the tree, being 
matured, has an influence over these 
grafts? 2. My strawberry field has been 
kept very free from weeds the past Sum¬ 
mer. Late in the growing season a great 
deal of Mouse-ear chickweed started in the 
rows. It seems almost impossible to get it 
out of the narrow matted rows. Can you 
suggest a remedy? The field is now well 
mulched with straw for Winter covering. 
Will the chickweed, which is now quite 
small, injure the bed for fruiting another 
year? It is a new bed on heavily fertilized 
land. Q. G. w. 
Williamstown, Mass. 
1. This brings up the old and hotly- 
contested theory of the influence of the 
stock upon the scion. I do not say that 
the stock never has any influence over 
the grafts that are set upon it, but I 
think that it is very, very rare. Ever 
since I can remember anything, I have 
seen grafts of various kinds set in trees 
of all sizes, up to the biggest apple and 
pear trees in the old orchards, and I 
have never noticed any difference in 
time of ripening, color, flavor or any 
other particular from the ordinary types 
of the varieties used. If there were a 
well founded principle in nature that the 
stock materially influences the graft in 
the character of its fruit, we would sure¬ 
ly have numerous facts demonstrating 
it, for we have billions of grafts and 
buds set. As it is, we rarely have what 
may be called suspicious cases brought 
to notice. The only reason that I do 
not believe in the theory is for lack of 
facts, for I would as willingly believe in 
that as in any other theory. But that it 
is very commonly believed in I do not 
doubt; just as it is believed by a mul¬ 
titude of fairly well-informed people 
that new varieties are originated in 
some mysterious way by grafting and 
budding. A few days ago I was talking 
with a very intelligent man in Washing¬ 
ton, who thought this was a fact, and 
was astonished at being shown the fal¬ 
lacy of his belief. The case mentioned 
by G. G. W. may be one in which the 
stock modifies the graft, but I doubt it. 
Old trees are likely to mature their fruit 
sooner than young ones, and especially 
if they are not in rich ground and grow¬ 
ing thriftily. 
2. There are several species of chick- 
weed that become very troublesome 
when they get a start in strawberry 
fields. As they grow in the cool weather 
of Fall and Spring, and come up in the 
rows among the plants they are very 
difficult to destroy. There is no way 
that I have ever found to rid the patch 
of them but hand work. The seed is 
matured before cultivation usually be¬ 
gins in the early Summer, so that the 
seed is sown each year ready for the 
succeeding one. Mulching will not de¬ 
stroy the young plants, unless it is 
heavy enough to kill the strawberry 
plants too. I have had beds seriously 
smothered and injured by the chickweed 
coming up through a thin mulch, unless 
I spent considerable time and labor in 
pulling it out in early Spring. The 
wiser plan is to change the crop, putting 
in corn, potatoes, or something that 
grows in Summer, and Fall-plow, and 
then Spring-plow the chickweed to death 
before setting the same ground to straw¬ 
berries again. 
(Continued on next page ) 
Every Cloud Has 
a Silver Lining. 
ft 
The clouds of bad blood enveloping 
humanity have a silver lining in the shape 
of a specific to remove them. It is Hood’s 
Sarsaparilla, America’s Greatest Medicine, 
which drives out all impurities from the 
blood, of either sex or any age. 
Never Disappoints 
OSIER WILLOWS 
for the protection of DAMS. DYKES and DITCHES, 
and for the manufacture Of baskets. Price* for cut¬ 
tings, $1 per 100; 18 per 1 000. Directions for planting 
and information given with each order. 
CHAS. RENNER, Harrison, N. J 
^VVl/VVVVWVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV'VVVVV, 
MUSHROOM SPAWN 
Choice English Milltrack. 
FRESH CONSIGNMENT JUST RECEIVED. 
Price, 10c. per pound; 17 per 100 pounds; in 
500-pound lots at 16.50 per 100 pounds. 
Send for Our 1900 Carden and 
Farm Manual. 
If you Keep Hens, you should have our new 
Poultry Supply Catalogue. 
JOHNSON & STOKES, 
217-219 Market St., Philadelphia, Pa. 
T WO hundred bushels 
of Potatoes remove 
eighty pounds of “actual ’ Pot¬ 
ash from the soil. One thou¬ 
sand pounds of a fertilizer con¬ 
taining 8 % “actual” Potash 
will supply just the amount 
needed. If there is a de¬ 
ficiency of Potash, there will be 
a falling-off in the crop. 
We have some valuable 
books telling about composi¬ 
tion, use and value of fertilizers 
for various crops. They are 
sent free. 
GERMAN KALI WORKS, 
93 Nassau St., New York. 
Jadoo Fibre and Jadoo Liquid 
Will give you Early Crops and Large Crop* 
of Vegetable* or Fruit. Send for Catalogues 
and be convtnoed of the merit* of the** 
new Fertilliera. 
THE AMERICAN JADOO CO., 
816 Falrmount Avenne. Philadelphia, Pa. 
Cyanide 
Guaranteed 98 to 99 per cent., for generating 
Hydrocyanic Acid Gas 
the most effective fumigating material, to 
destroy scale insects on fruit trees and 
plants. The only positive eradicator of 
the dreaded San Jose Scale. Endorsed by 
all Agricultural Experiment Stations. “A 
perfect practical remedy,” says Prof. W. G 
Johnson, State Etymologist of Maryland. 
MANUFACTURED BY 
The Roessler & Hasslacher Chemical Co., 
No. 100 William Street. New York. 
A| ftlfrn and other Grass Seeds FOR SALE. 
ULUVLn Write for samples and prices. 
Bourbon Elevator and Milling Co., Bourbon, 111. 
10 Id CVA/ VODIf strawberry Plants for $1. 
I / WlVY lUnN T. C. KKV 1 TT, Atbenia, N.J. 
Grape Vines 
Descriptive and Price List free. 
Cmrranta, Gooseberries and other Small 
Frolt Plants. Extra quality. Warranted true. 
T. S. HUBBARD CO., FKEDONIA, N. Y. 
Pedigree Strawberries 
Reoommended to all strawberry growers by Rural 
Niw-Yobkbr March 11, ’99, and praised by it July 17, 
'97. and July 16, ’98. We Offer JOB, CARRIE 8II.VER8, 
STELLA and REBA In pot-grown plants at 25o each, 
$2 per do*.. 15 per 100; and ROBBIE and NETTIE, the 
best late strawberries yet introduced, at 25c. eaoh, 12 
per do*., $6 per 100. Plants to be all pot-grown and to 
be delivered after July 1st. Order quick; stock limited 
JOS. H. BLACK , SON & CO., Hightstown, N. J‘ 
_ TREES 
and Strawberry Plants by the 
hundred or million. Weyield 
to no one in varieties and 
quality of stock. Ask about 
Victor Peueh and Straw¬ 
berries, Plums, Apples, 
Asparagus, etc. Illustrated 
Catalogue mulled FREE. 
Box 29, Berlin, Md, 
YOUR 7 Chestnut Trees 
A few grafts put in your seedling chestnut tree will make it pay big I name price and kinds in catalogue 
Free. Full line nursery stock ARTHUR J. COLLI 
Moorestown, Burlington Co. 
Choicest Fruit and Ornamental Trees. 
Shrubs, Plants, Bulbs, Seeds. 40 Acres Hardy Roses. 44 Greenhouses 
of Palms, Everblooming Roses, Ficus, Ferns, Etc. Correspondence 
solicited. Catalogue Free. 
the STORRS & HARRISON CO* f Painesville, O. 
IT plum; Kiefferpear; Elberta,PooleFav.,Emmapeaches,etc. 
Best by Test—74 YEARS. Largest annual sale. 
High quality— not high price. Finest sorts. We 
bud 4 million Apple trees, whole-root graft 
5 million—now 1- and 2-yr. Other Trees, 
Vines, etc., in proportion. 1400 acres Nursery 
Orchards. We PAY FREIGHT 
box and pack free, ask No Money until 
T SAFE arrival,—Guarantee SATISFACTION 
Stark Fruit Book free. Write us,— Visit us 
W/*\ DAV CASH each WEEK and want 
IT “ E l\ I MORE Home and traveling 
salesmen. Outfit free. STARK Market and 
Quality Kings PAY: Apple of Commerce, 
\\/S Black Ben Davis, Champion, Delicious, Ingram, 
yfjt Gano, Prizetaker, Sena- CTARK LOUISIANA, M0. 
. tor,StaymanWinesap;Gold/«V|/TlnSDansvilIe, N. Y. 
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