1898 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
201 
had good success in the field, and would not buy mixed 
goods unless I could get them for about the same price 
as my fertilizer now costs me.” 
A Fertilizer for All Crops. —Will you give a formula for 
a good fertilizer for all crops, in which land plaster and general 
farm manure are used ? What other elements are necessary ? 
Edenburg, N. Y. e. r. 
This cannot be done. It would be just as reasonable 
to pick out a mixture of grain for feeding all sorts of 
stock—sheep, horses, cattle, poultry and swine. Some 
farmers come near to doing that when they feed only 
corn, but it is not the best way where most of the 
grain must be bought. Potatoes, fruit or grain have 
different requirements. About the nearest we can 
come to a general standard is two parts by weight of 
ground bone, one part dissolved rock, and one part 
muriate of potash. That is excellent for fruit, and 
fair for grain. For potatoes, you should add one part 
nitrate of soda. If you have had no experience in the 
use of fertilizers, we would advise you to begin by 
using one of the standard manufactured brands. 
Wood Ashes and Potash Salts.— What is a fair valuation for 
an average sample of wood ashes ? Is the potash worth more 
than in potash salts ? What is the phosphoric acid worth—the 
lime, etc. ? subscriber. 
An average sample of wood ashes should contain, in 
one ton, 100 pounds of potash, 36 pounds of phos¬ 
phoric acid, and 700 pounds of lime. You will see 
from the schedule of trade values that the chemists 
value the potash at five cents and the phosphoric acid 
at cents. This would make a plant-food value of 
$7.62, while the lime may be worth $1.50 more. The 
potash in wood ashes is considered worth one-half cent 
a pound more than that in muriate, since it contains 
no chlorine. For most crops, we would as soon use 
muriate, certainly for grain or grass. The lime in the 
ashes is as objectionable for potatoes as is the chlorine 
in muriate, as it almost invariably causes scab. The 
phosphoric acid in ashes is considered less valuable 
than that in bone. We may take two bones of equal 
size, grind one as finely as possible, and burn the other 
down to ash. Of course, the ash is much finer than 
the ground bone. Will it make a better fertilizer ? 
No. The nitrogen has been all driven away in the 
burning, and the phosphoric acid is less available. 
The action of fire destroys the organic form of the 
bone. The phosphoric acid is thus less soluble. A 
mixture of 225 pounds muriate of potash and 175 
pounds fine raw bone will give all the potash and 
phosphoric acid found in a ton of wood ashes, and 
four pounds of nitrogen besides. Used with 800 
pounds of lime per acre, it will give as good results 
on most crops as a ton of wood ashes. 
A BASKET OF FRUIT NOTES. 
ANSWERS BY H. K. VAN DEMAN. 
Grafting Chestnuts.— Can sweet chestnuts be grafted on to 
horse-chestnuts ? What is the best book published on the above 
work ? F. J. w. 
Ontario, Canada. 
The true chestnut is so entirely different from the 
so-called “ horse-chestnut ” that there is no possibility 
of grafting one on the other. The latter is one of the 
Buckeye family, and in no sense, a chestnut. The 
grafting of the chestnut should be done late to obtain 
the best results, even after the leaves have started on 
the chestnut stocks to be used ; but the scions should 
be cut before any sign of swelling of the buds is seen, 
and kept dormant by putting in a cold place, such as 
in the sawdust of an ice house. There is a book on 
“Nut Culture ” issued by the United States Depart¬ 
ment of Agriculture that gives full directions for 
grafting all kinds of nut trees, but the back numbers 
of The R. N.-Y. give similar directions. 
Peaches and Plums for Indiana.—1. I wish to plant a peach 
and plum orchard this Spring. The field is in wheat. Will it 
hurt the trees much to plant them in the wheat, and after the 
wheat is cut, keep the ground stirred so as to retain the moisture? 
2. What varieties of peach and plum are the best to plant, and 
the surest croppers ? My soil is a stiff clay, on the east side of 
a piece of timber, well sheltered, in latitude between 39 and 40. I 
wish to plant about 1,800 peach, and 200 plum, about one year from 
bud. 3. What is the probable cost of each kind of trees ? h. h. 
Union City, Ind. 
1. To plant and attempt to grow young trees suc¬ 
cessfully in a wheat field is utter folly. I have seen 
this tried repeatedly, and in all cases, with very bad 
results. The trees need all the moisture that the 
ground affords, and especially in the early part of the 
growing season. The wheat, or any other small grain, 
would rob them very badly and should never be al¬ 
lowed among them. This is far too commonly done. 
Potatoes or some cultivated crop is the proper one for 
a young orchard, until it is four or five years old ; 
then no other crop than the fruit should usually be 
grown on the land. Clover is good if worked into 
the soil. I plant my fruit trees fully twiee as thickly 
as I expect them to stand finally, and when they get 
to bearing and crowding, I dig out a part of them. 
This occupies the whole groi nd profitably. 2. Among 
the best varieties of the peach for Indiana are Tri¬ 
umph, Mountain Rose, Elberta, Oldmixon Free and 
Hill’s Chili. Of plums, the following are desirable: 
Red June, Abundance, Burbank, Wickson, Gaylord, 
Hawkeye, and French Damson. All of these varie¬ 
ties are well tried for market purposes. 3. The cost 
of good one-year-old(from the bud) peach trees should 
not be over $5 per 100, and plum trees about twice as 
much. 
Top-Grafting on IIardt Apple Trees.— In The R. N.-Y. of Feb¬ 
ruary 19, was an article in regard to “ Early and Late-Maturing 
Trees.” I think of planting about one acre of apple trees. A 
neighboring nurseryman said, “ Plant hardy growing trees (Rus¬ 
sian varieties), and after they are three or four years old, graft 
in such varieties as you wish to grow”. He advised this course 
more particularly in regard to Swaar and Spltzenburg. Is this 
the best thing to do ? In planting, would you mix varieties to 
secure better pollination. o. E. 
Mendon Centre, N. Y. 
In the very favorable climate of Monroe County, N. 
Y., it would seem to me unnecessary to take the 
trouble to set very hardy kinds of apple trees, such as 
some of the Russian kinds are, for stocks upon which 
to graft other less hardy kinds. Swaar and Esoptts 
Spitzenburg are better for being top-worked, but I 
would prefer them on Ben Davis or Northern Spy to 
any Russian varieties. The mixing of varieties of 
apples is, doubtless, beneficial in some cases, by caus¬ 
ing better pollination, but just what varieties do and 
do not need it is not well understood as yet. It can 
do no harm to interplant any of them. 
Marianna Plum.—Is the Marianna plum worth trying to raise for 
fruit, if one has the young trees in garden or nursery? The 
trees are plentiful and cheap, but I am informed that they seldom 
bear much fruit. Can they be brought into early or abundant 
bearing in Michigan, by shortening in the branches in mid-Sum- 
mer? Are they much better than no plum trees at all ? If one 
or two grafts of some other sorts were Inserted in the*top to fer¬ 
tilize, would that help much to bring into early or abundant 
bearing ? What three or four sorts of plums would be most 
profitable to raise; also of strawberries or apples ? h. w. 
Montgomery, Mich. 
It would be unwise to plant Marianna plum for its 
fruit in Michigan or anywhere else, because we have so 
many better kinds. The taste is bitter when fully ripe, 
and when cooked, is very disagreeably so. There is, 
also, an imperfection of the flowers that prevents 
perfect pollination. Top-grafting with some other 
variety might mend this fault, but the fruit would be 
of little value in the end. I would graft entirely to 
some better kinds such as Burbank, Red June, Wick¬ 
son, Whitaker, Gaylord, Milton and American Eagle. 
There are so many good kinds of the strawberry that 
it is probably easy for H. M. to get those that would 
suit. Bubach, Ilaverland, Brunette, Brandywine and 
Parker Earle are among the good ones. Of the good 
apples for home use, the Fanny, Shiawasse, Graven- 
stein and Grimes Golden are all suited to Michigan. 
Mammoth Black Twig and Statman Apples. —Is the Mammoth 
Black Twig apple subject to scab ? II. E. Van Deman recom¬ 
mends Stayman instead of Winesap for northern Ohio, and I 
would like to know whether he recommends it for the Piedmont 
section of Virginia. Will he give a full description of Stayman, 
comparing it with Winesap. The latter is largely planted here, 
but it has some faults; it scabs and the limbs droop so much. 
What commercial fertilizer would it be advisable to use on young 
apple trees planted on rather thin soil ? a. r. l. 
Barboursville.Va. 
Stayman is a seedling of Winesap, originated by Dr. 
J. Stayman, of Leavenworth, Kan, about 30 years ago. 
He gave me scions of it soon after the original tree 
came into bearing, and I set them on old trees. They 
soon bore fruit, and it proved to be very good. Since 
then I have seen it grown in Maryland and Delaware, 
where Winesap is a popular variety, and it proves 
much better in several respects. The Stayman is 
larger in fruit, fully as good in quality, if not 
better, as highly colored, and the tree is much better 
in shape, being more upright. I am quite sure that 
it would be better than Winesap in the mountains of 
Virginia and all the territory where that old standard 
is so popular. It will probably be as subject to scab 
as its parent, and the same is likely to prove true of 
Mammoth Black Twig. Muriate of potash and dis¬ 
solved phosphate rock are the fertilizers needed in 
“ thin ” soil; together with coarse manure or clover 
to make humus. 
Sensible Talk About Fertilizers. 
O. IV. II., No. Syracuse, N. Y .—I am a market gardener, on a 
garden of 20 acres. The soil is sandy loam, clay, clay loam and 
muck. The crops are strawberries, raspberries, potatoes, sweet 
corn, tomatoes, cabbages, squashes, melons, onions, carrots, par¬ 
snips, turnips, beets, cucumbers, celery, etc., with 200 fruit trees 
just set, comprising apple, plum, cherry, pear, quince, also some 
currants and gooseberries. The above land is in first-class con¬ 
dition, having had 150 two-horse loads of manure per year for 
four or five years. I have been paying $80 per year for the man¬ 
ure, drawing it seven miles, and costing20 cents per load for toll 
(on plank road); it takes half a day to draw a load. Could I 
grow as good crops with phosphates, expending the same amount 
of money, and figuring the time in each instance ? I have about 
15 acres to plow each year. I keep two horses, one cow, and 50 
hens, and expect to keep 200 hens. I have no help of my own, 
have one month hand, the rest day help. 
ANSWERED BY M. G ABBA HAN. 
I would advise G. W. H. to go slow on fertilizers. 
To obtain the best results from their use requires a 
knowledge of at least some of the elementary princi¬ 
ples of chemistry, especially in its relation to agri¬ 
culture and horticulture, When a man has obtained 
a reasonably clear conception of the constituents of a 
complete fertilizer—nitrogen, phosphoric acid, potash 
—he has learned something of the difference between 
nitrogen in the form of nitrates, and the same sub¬ 
stance in the organic form, sources from which those 
different elements are obtained, where, and how to 
buy. This knowledge having been obtained, let him 
try a small piece of ground with chemicals, and 
another of the same size and crop, with equal money’s 
worth of stable manure. Very much of this kind of 
information can be obtained from Greiner’s work on 
chemistry, Gregory on Fertilizers, and Sempers’s Man¬ 
ures and How to Make Them. Those works can be 
bought very cheaply from The R. N.-Y. I mistrust 
that G. W. II. lacks some of this general knowledge of 
fertilizer ingredients, else he would not speak of those 
substances as “phosphates.” Iam satisfied that he 
would better hang on to his stable manure until, by 
study, and careful experimenting in the field, he has 
learned how to use fertilizers economically, as well as 
intelligently. He knows just what he can do now, 
but the change from manure to fertilizers, without 
preliminary trial, would be too revolutionary to be 
considered for a moment in this connection. 
There is no doubt in my mind as to the ultimate 
financial results from the intelligent use of fertilizers 
of high grade, but in these days of fierce competition 
and narrow margins, a man would better “ strike 
light, till he gets his hand in.” Neither is there any 
doubt in my mind that I could take one-third of this 
area each year, to grow the vegetable matter on, 
instead of drawing it seven miles, supplying it with 
liberal dressings at sowing time, of phosphoric acid 
and potash, then crop the remaining two-thirds with 
the requisite amount of fertilizing material at the 
time of planting, and have much greater net profits. 
With my environments, this is the only way to get 
ahead. The better way, then, to look at this matter 
is to advise G. W. H. to continue the practice of that 
method which, I trust, he has found somewhat re¬ 
munerative until, by painstaking effort, he has proved 
the two systems side by side ; then he will not ask the 
advice of any person. 
But while advocating the use of fertilizers with some 
persistence and a great deal of positiveness, I would 
not, for a moment, undervalue the benefits to be 
derived from the use of stable manure, especially if 
well rotted, and none other should be applied to 
ground for vegetables. The great value of stable 
manure does not consist altogether, as many suppose, 
in the amount of plant food it contains ; it has other 
missions in the soil to perform—a mechanical effect, 
rendering the soil more lively, with less disposition to 
bake, increasing the aeration, opening the soil to the 
admission of atmospheric influences whereby vast 
stores of potential plant food are unlocked and made 
available, as well as by the more direct action of the 
carbonic acid furnished. All this, and much more 
than this, is accomplished by the decomposition of 
vegetable matter in the soil. But, after all, it remains 
for each man to answer for himself, amid his own sur¬ 
roundings, whether it is more economical for him to 
buy it in the form of stable manure, or grow the stuff 
on the ground and plow it under, furnishing the more 
concentrated plant food in the form of chemicals. 
Rape in an Orchard. 
(f. 1. T., Little Britain, N. Y .—My orchard is very rich, but is 
shaded a pood deal. It has been pretty well rooted up by the 
hops. How would it do to sow it to rape and clover for pasture ? 
Would the rape prow in the shade ? A friend here says that, if I 
sow rape, it will be a hard job ever to pet rid of It. I would like 
to sow it quite extensively, if it is no trouble to pet rid of it. My 
land is a clay loam. 
Ans.—T here is nothing he can put in the orchard 
that will give more pasture than rape, or be better 
feed for hogs. If the orchard is so thick as entirely 
to keep the sun from shining on the ground, it is too 
thick for the best good of the trees, and would better 
be pruned. I don’t mean by this that a man should 
go in with an ax to cut and slash, but that the tops 
should be so thinned out that the sun can get all 
through them, and reach the ground. Of course, rape 
will not grow as rank and large in the shade of an 
orchard as it would out in the sun, but it will make 
a good growth, furnish lots of feed, and at the same 
time, it is good for the trees. If he get the Dwarf 
Essex rape, it is just as likely to stay in the land, and 
no more so, as the common fiat or English turnip. If 
it should happen to be deeply covered with snow all 
Winter, it may live over, and so will turnips ; but it 
is as easily killed by frost, and if it happen to winter 
over, will be no worse a weed than the turnips. We 
have now in one of our orchards, a piece of rape, on 
the east side of a Norway spruce windbreak, where 
the snow has drifted two or thi-ee feet deep upon it, 
which we hope may come safely through the Winter. 
If it do so, we shall save it for seed. G. I. T. can’t do 
a better thing than to sow rape all through his corn 
fields at the last cultivation. It will come on rapidly 
after the corn is cut, and afford lots of feed until 
frozen. It is capital food for all stock, but particu¬ 
larly desirable for sheep and hogs. The more farmers 
know of rape, the better they will like it, and the 
more extensively they will sow it. J. 9. woodward. 
