1898 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
once in three years. A remedy which was used suc¬ 
cessfully hy Dr. Halsted, was air-slaked stone lime 
applied to the ground at the rate of 75 bushels to the 
acre. 
Other Crops. 
Corn smut is the most vexatious fungous disease 
affecting corn, and no efficacious remedy can be 
suggested. Any affected ears discovered should be 
destroyed by burning. Affected stock should never 
be used for seed. 
The tomato is subject to both rot and blight, the rot 
attacking the fruit and the blight the leaves. The 
blight first appears in the form of dark-brown spots 
on the under side of the leaves, the upper surface 
turning yellow, and the edges curling downward. As 
the disease progresses, the leaves die and fall, leaving 
naked stems. On the appearance of this disease, the 
foliage should be thoroughly sprayed with Bordeaux 
Mixture or modified Eau Celeste, repeated at intervals 
of 10 days or two weeks. The formula for Eau Celeste 
is as follows: Copper sulphate, one pound ; hot water, 
two gallons. When the crystals are dissolved, and 
the mixture cool, add ammonia, 1% pint, and water 
enough to make 25 gallons. This fungicide, however, 
is very caustic in its action upon foliage, and is, there¬ 
fore, hardly safe to use. 
Tomato rot makes its appearance as a small black 
spot at the blossom end of the fruit, which gradually 
extends its area until half the tomato may be shrunken 
and blackened. Very thorough spraying with Bor¬ 
deaux Mixture is advised for this. It progresses most 
rapidly in warm, damp weather and, as a preventive, 
a dry location is suggested for tomatoes. 
Sweet potatoes are subject to several fungous 
diseases, one of the most destructive being black 
rot of the tubers. This fungus causes large greenish- 
black patches to show upon the tubers, extending 
gradually into the interior. When the disease at¬ 
tacks young plants in the seed-bed, the infection com¬ 
ing either from infected stock or from the soil, young 
shoots are affected near the soil, often dying beyond 
the place of attack. Affected tubers should never be 
used for sets, diseased sprouts should not he planted, 
and land suspected of the fungus should be planted 
to something else. Affected plants should be sprayed 
with copper compounds, and suspected tubers may be 
soaked in ammoniacal carbonate of copper before 
storing to prevent the spread of the rot. The copper 
solution is prepared as follows: Copper carbonate, 
three ounces ; ammonia, one quart. Agitate until the 
copper is dissolved, and dilute with 25 gallons of water. 
Onions suffer especially from two destructive fun¬ 
gous diseases, mildew or rust, and smut. Mildew, 
which is particularly likely to affect seed onions upon 
low ground, first shows in the form of a grayish vel¬ 
vety coating upon the top. The leaves wilt, turning 
yellow. All affected onions should be destroyed, and 
applications of Bordeaux Mixture should be made, be¬ 
ginning early in the season, and continuing at inter¬ 
vals of two weeks. 
Smut, which is most prevalent upon dry ground, is 
a dangerous fungus. The first leaves of seedlings are 
attacked, showing numerous dark spots over their sur¬ 
face. Such plants die at an early stage. On older 
plants, the smut shows in dark ridges up and down 
the bulbs, these ridges consisting of the sooty spores. 
The soil is soon filled with the fungus germs, and for 
this reason, it should not be planted to onions, it is 
considered that transplanting is instrumental in avoid¬ 
ing this disease. It is, also, recommended that a mix¬ 
ture, equal parts, of sulphur and lime, be applied to 
the drills, at the rate of one ounce to every 50 feet, as 
a preventive. _ 
HOW GRAFTING IS DONE. 
What is the difference between grafting and bud¬ 
ding ? A bud is used ir either case, but in budding, 
it is attached to only a small piece of wood, as in Fig. 
58, while in grafting, a twig is used having one or 
more buds, as in Fig. 54. Both processes have lately 
been included in the general term “ graftage ”. 
There are two principles in graftage that must be 
mastered at the outset: The one essential point is to 
make sure every time that the cambium layers of the 
stock and scion are united as closely as possible. This 
cambium layer is the soft, mucilaginous part between 
the bark and the wood. In the Spring, it makes the 
greatest growth. Later in the season, wounds heal 
more slowly, and unions are less liable to succeed. If, 
then, this cambium layer does the business, we must 
not let it get dried out. Thus we come to the second 
principle in graftage, viz., whenever the union is 
above ground, the union must be covered to prevent 
evaporation from the wounded tissues. 
Shield-budding is the only kind of budding com¬ 
monly practiced in America. The bud in Fig. 58 is 
cut from a strong, well-hardened twig of the season’s 
growth, and after a place has been made for it, as in 
Fig. 50, it is tied with raffia as shown in Fig. 51. In 
two or three weeks, the bud will be stuck, or united 
to the stock, and the bandages are removed or cut. 
The following Spring, the stock should be cut off just 
above the bud in order to concentrate all the plant’s 
energy into the one bud. 
The various kinds of grafting may be classified with 
reference to the position of the union into root, crown, 
stem, and top-grafting. A less logical classification is 
based on the method of making the union of stock and 
scion, and employs such terms as side, crown, cleft, 
whip and veneer grafting. In all graftage, it is a 
principle that, whether the stock be active or not, the 
bud must be dormant. In all ordinary cases of graft¬ 
ing, only the twig's of the previous year’s growth are 
used for scions. The common notion that scions cut in 
freezing weather are worthless, is a mistake. If graft¬ 
ing is to be done after Spring growth has begun out¬ 
doors, the scions may have to be packed in ice to keep 
them dormant. 
Whip or tongue-grafting is used only upon small 
stocks, which are usually one or two years old. Both 
scion and stock are cut diagonally, and also with a 
vertical slit made as in Fig. 52, and the two are fitted 
together. The whole is bandaged tightly, and if 
above ground, covered with wax. This is the method 
used in the root-grafting of nearly all fruit trees. 
The method universally employed in changing over 
old orchards is cleft-grafting. The branch of a tree 
is sawed off and split, as in Fig. 55, and into the split 
or cleft, two wedge-shaped scions like the one in Fig. 
54 are inserted. Two scions are better than one, 
chiefly because they hasten the healing of the stub, 
also because they double the chances of success. In 
preparing such a scion, a professional grafter makes 
three motions, one to cut off the scion, and two to 
make the wedge. It is a principle in this business 
that no amount of whittling will make as good a job 
as a single draw cut. A waxed stub is shown in Fig. 
Fig. 57. Fig. 58. 
5*5. In the case of the cleft-grafted grape (Fig. 53 
shows the process), the union is placed below ground, 
as seen in Fig. 57, and it is unnecessary to wax the 
wound, as there is no danger from drying out. This 
is the common and, usually, the best method of graft¬ 
ing the grape. 
A good grafting wax is made from resin, four parts 
by weight; beeswax, two parts; tallow, one part. 
The first two are finely broken, all are melted together, 
139 
and the liquid poured into a pail of cold water. It is 
then pulled or worked until it becomes tough or “ gets 
a grain,” when it becomes the color of very light 
Manilla paper. When wax is applied, the hands must 
be well greased with hard cake tallow. 
The top-grafting of an old orchard requires much 
headwork, and every orchardist should understand 
the principles of grafting, even though he hires pro¬ 
fessional budders and grafters. One of the best ex¬ 
positions of the subject I know is that in The Nursery 
Book, by Prof. L. H. Bailey, from which the illustra¬ 
tions accompanying this article are taken. 
WILHELM MILLER. 
MANY POTATOES FROM LITTLE SEED. 
When one has secured a limited number of tubers 
of some new and promising variety of potato, he is 
naturally anxious to make all he can out of them. 
Most farmers venture little farther than to cut the 
tubers to single eyes, and make a hill from each of 
these. Others go so far as to divide the eyes, making, 
perhaps, four pieces of each eye, thus making four 
times as many hills as would be possible were single- 
eye pieces planted. 
But if the seed potato be properly handled, a still 
larger number of hills may be secured, than by quar¬ 
tering the eyes. If an extra-early crop be desired, 
plant the tubers in light, sandy soil in a hotbed or 
greenhouse. Cover lightly with soil, and water just 
enough to keep the latter moist. When the sprouts 
appear, give all the light and air possible, to prevent 
spindling. When they are four or five inches high, 
separate them from the potato by pushing down 
gently with the fingers, thus separating the sprout 
with its mass of fine rootlets, and plant carefully in 
the open ground the same as other vegetable plants 
are set. Several crops of sprouts may, usually, be 
taken from a potato. 
Sometimes cuttings may be taken from the tips of 
the shoots, and rooted in a greenhouse like other soft¬ 
wood cuttings. It is not necessary to use a hotbed or 
greenhouse unless extra earliness be desired. A cold 
frame with a covering of leaves or hay is sufficient, 
the latter to be removed when the sprouts appear. 
No matter what the method of propagation, the soil 
in whieh the potatoes are growing should be deep, 
mellow, be kept free of weeds, and the surface be fre¬ 
quently stirred. _ 
WHAT THEY SAY. 
A New Root fob Stock. —Last year, I saw in the 
eatalogue of Messrs. Rivoire & Son, of Lyons, France, 
the recommendation of a new root called Raifort 
champgtre for stockfeeding. Through my seedsman 
here, I obtained a packet of seeds, and sowed about a 
100-foot row the latter part of .July. In appearance, 
the top and root were like a mammoth long, red radish. 
The roots grew to the size of a medium mangel. The 
flesh was mild and sweet, without any of the pungeney 
of the radish, and the roots were eagerly eaten by cows. 
They were sown too early for this latitude—New 
York. I intend to raise more this year, not sowing 
till the first week in August, as some of them ran up 
to seed. The rapidity of growth seems to make this 
plant desirable, as it can be grown as a second crop, 
and judging from appearance, I should say that its 
yield in weight would be two or three times that of 
any turnip sown so late in the season. I do not 
know that it is offered by any American seedsman, 
and many leading European seedsmen do not have it. 
Plainfield, N. J. E. R. 
Eldorado Blackberry. —In The R. N.-Y. of No¬ 
vember 6, page 727, II., of Portage County, Ohio, be¬ 
rates the Eldorado blackberry, and asks to be called 
to dinner if we find anything better than the Lawton 
and Kittatinny. This I will gladly do, and even in¬ 
vite him to stay for supper besides. He admits that 
Eldorado is hardy, which is already one strong point 
it has over either of the other two. This is true, as 
it has been tested alongside of many other kinds, and 
the Ohio Experiment Station places it along with 
Snyder and- Ancient Briton as to hardiness, although 
its size is far superior. While its size is not quite 
equal to the largest Lawton and Kittatinny, the qual¬ 
ity is so much superior, being free from a hard core, 
sweet and juicy, that we can only decide in its favor. 
Its productiveness, a point of vital interest to the 
commercial grower, is simply wonderful; the laterals 
should be severely pruned so as not to overbear. In 
some localities, the Kittatinny is a bad subject of 
Orange rust, which Eldorado never shows. Neither 
Lawton nor Kittatinny has sufficient hardiness to 
withstand our severe Winters and bear a crop of fruit. 
My conclusions are not drawn from an experience with 
a garden plot, but after a thorough test of about ten 
years, having grown many acres, and marketed hun¬ 
dreds of bushels of fruit that commanded respect and 
the highest prices. R- m. buechly. 
Darke County, Ohio. 
