189? 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
121 
WESTERN N. Y. HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
REVIEW OF A SUCCESSFUL MEETING. 
{Concluded.) 
Dr. Caldwell, of Cornell, read a paper on Experi¬ 
ments in Fertilizing Fruits. lie advised using, in the 
fall, per tree for peaches : Muriate of potash, 1 to IK 
pound ; dried blood, 65 ounces. Then in the spring, 
IK pound S. C. rock, 2K pounds nitrate of soda. On 
grapes, per acre : 700 pounds dissolved rock ; 200 
pounds muriate of potash, 300 pounds nitrate of soda. 
A lengthy discussion arose about Crimson clover 
and its value as a nitrogen trap. Mr. L. A. Clinton 
said that Crimson clover sown August 1, showed, by 
analysis in December, that an acre of it contained $18 
worth of nitrogen. Director Jordan recommended 
home-mixed fertilizers, using cotton-seed meal at $20 
per ton as a source of nitrogen. Prof. Roberts urged 
the sowing of oats, barley, peas, rye or anything to 
keep the ground covered. 
Last season’s experiment in apple thinning in an 
orchard at Hall’s Corners, Ontario County, was given 
by Prof. S. A. Beach, Horticulturist at Geneva. 
Three varieties were thinned — Baldwin, Greening 
and Hubbardston—in June, when the apples were IK 
inch in diameter, and three plans were followed. 1. 
Taking off all knotty, wormy and small fruit, leaving 
but one in a cluster. 2. The same as the first, thin¬ 
ning to four inches apart. 3. Thinning to six inches 
apart. The result showed an increase of about 25 per 
cent in first-class fruit with few seconds, the thinning 
to four inches giving the best results, while the labor 
of thinning was just about equal to that of harvest¬ 
ing the remaining fruit, which was uniform in size 
and of high color. A tree performs its work in this 
order : Growth, ripening wood, ripening fruits, mak¬ 
ing leaf buds, and lastly, fruit buds. If it is over¬ 
taxed in other directions, it cannot make fruit buds ; 
hence, in a year of great fruitfulness, while the low 
price of apples might not pay for the labor of thin¬ 
ning that year, yet the relief given the tree in the 
smaller number of seeds it has to produce, might 
prepare it to give a good crop the next year when 
prices are fairly good. In California, peaches 
are thinned at 10 cents a tree, and as a result, Cali¬ 
fornia peaches sell in New York at five cents each 
when New York fruit sells five for a cent. 
Some Phases of the Plant-Food Question, was the 
topic of Dr. Van Slyke, of the Geneva Station. He 
said that neither soil nor plant analysis can deter¬ 
mine what the plant most needs. We must ask the 
plant by supplying the three elements of plant food 
in varying quantities on small plots, and watch re¬ 
sults. We have passed through the nitrogen period, 
or era of barnyard manure ; also, the phosphoric acid 
or S. C. rock era, and we are now entering on the 
potash period. The so-called “ Natural Plant Food ” 
is a fraud. 
Mr. S. D. Willard, of Geneva, who is an acknowl¬ 
edged authority on plums, gave a short history of the 
plum industry, its rise and fall on the Hudson River, 
and traced the introduction of the Japan, predicting 
that, crossed on native kinds, the Japan would yet 
produce still better varieties than we now have. He 
placed at the head of the Japans, the Burbank, Red 
June, Wickson, Abundance, and Ogon ; these have 
proved hardy in bud, Burbank never having failed 
but once—last year—when the mercury fell to 21 
degrees below zero. He uses, and recommends Japans 
on peach roots, but some nurserymen failed to agree 
with him on this point. Of the other varieties of 
plums, he recommended the October Perfect, Hall’s 
Early, Field, Diamond, Prince of Wales, Monarch, 
Grand Duke and Arch Duke. 
Prof. Roberts, of Cornell, opened the programme of 
the last session by a talk on what he called the Inven¬ 
tory of Land. He said that it was one thing to in¬ 
ventory property, and another thing to convert it into 
cash, and proceeded to inventory an acre of soil, eight 
inches deep, containing 3,050 pounds of nitrogen, 421 
pounds of phosphoric acid, and 16,317 pounds of pot¬ 
ash. He showed photographs of this acre of poor, 
stony, gravelly soil which was selected for this experi¬ 
ment because it was poor, though analysis showed an 
abundance of plant food present. The plant food 
was liberated, and moisture conserved by the best of 
tillage, for failure is more often due to lack of mois¬ 
ture than to lack of food. The growing crop was 
cultivated from 12 to 20 times, using level culture for 
both corn and potatoes. The results per acre were 
343 bushels of potatoes, 66 bushels of shelled corn, 
and 80 bushels of oats. 
The often-abused Keiffer pear received an excellent 
recommendation from Prof. Waite, of Washington, 
D C., for its vigor and constitution or stamina. In 
his address on The Present Status of Our Knowledge 
of Pear Culture and Its Diseases, he told us that the 
introduction of the oriental species marked the great¬ 
est epoch in pear culture in many years, and predicted 
that the continued crossing of Keiffer and varieties 
of high quality like Seckel, wculd, in a few years, 
give us varieties better than ever yet known. He 
discussed scab, leaf blight and fire blight. Scab and 
leaf blight can be easily controlled by spraying, 
but fire blight is contagious, being carried by bees 
from blossom to blossom, and induced by too rapid 
growth, which may be checked by ceasing to culti¬ 
vate and to prune the top, and instead, if necessary, 
pruning the root. No variety is blight-proof. 
The Experiment Station at Geneva had on exhibi¬ 
tion 114 varieties of apples. Ellwanger & Barry 
showed 40 plates of apples, 22 of pears and 35 of grapes. 
The -Mills grape was most showy, the clusters from 
eight to ten inches in length, and seemed to have 
kept better than any other kind except, perhaps, the 
Vergennes. The pears were simply magnificent; 
Arjou, Easter Beurre, Winter Nelis, Columbia, P. 
Barry and Josephine de Malines. There were two 
plates of Japan persimmons. H. O. Fairchild of 
Hammondsport, showed a plate each of Catawba and 
Concord grapes, with the stems as green and the fruit 
as plump and fresh as when first gathered, much 
better preserved than any specimen of Ellwanger & 
Barry. _ e. c. gillett. 
BUSINESS BITS. 
The last subscription contest for 1896-7 will be announced in our 
next issue. In this contest, ice shall make it an obj ect for our club- 
raisers and friends to introduce The R. N.-Y. to their neighbors. It 
will extend from March l to May l. 
Tiie Bowen Cable Stay Fence Co., Norwalk, O., offer to send The 
R. N.-Y. one year free to the farmer that will send them the best 
communication on how to set an end post for wire fence. 
One of the great labor consumers in strawberry culture is the 
runners. The Carter Mfg. Co.. Jackson, Micb., have invented an 
ingenious little implement for cutting off the runners without 
bending your back, and you can do it as fast as you walk along 
the row. Their circular gives illustration and full description. 
There are places where a windmill will serve the purpose of 
power better than anything else. But, of course, you want a 
good mill if any. There is no better than the Halladay. Write 
the U. S. Wind Engine and Pump Co., 113 Water Street, Batavia, 
Ill., for a catalogue of windmills, pumps, tanks and other imple¬ 
ments. 
In a report from the big poultry show at Chicago, in January, 
we read that the Des Moines incubator was exhibited. The 400 
eggs had been put into the machine at home, 18 days before start¬ 
ing, then carted to the depot, then 375 miles by rail, and by ex¬ 
press wagon again to the show room, all in zero weather. Still 
they hatched until the machine was literally tilled with chickens. 
An incubator furnished with a regulator that will govern the heat 
on board of an express train, and hatch eggs accompanied by a 
20 below zero temperature, is certainly up-to-date. 
A prominent farmer said to us last week that he had to pay as 
much for harrows as he did when farm products sold for double 
present prices, because local dealers insisted on it, and he did 
not buy from advertisers because he did not always know that 
the advertised goods would suit him. The Empire Mfg. Co., 
62 River Street, Rock Falls, Ill., overcome this objection with 
their disk harrows. They send the barrow freight paid before 
the purchaser sends any money. If it suits, all right; if not, no 
cost to buyer. They make six sizes and will suit you if you need 
a disk harrow. 
WANTED! 
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Success Anti-Clog 
WEEDER & CULTIVATOR. 
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iinnntTnnnr' 
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>. r 
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A golden opportunity for dealers. Write for prices. 
We also manufacture Circular Saw Mills,Cultivators, 
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AGENTS WANTED. Catalogue free. 
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SEND FOR CIRCULAR ^TESTIMONIALS TO 
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HIGGANUM, 
CONN. 
-SOLE MANUFACTURERS- 
NO 
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going to Inly n HARROW 
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A WONDERFUL INVENTION. 
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ROSS BROTHERS, 
162 FRONT ST., WORCESTER, MASS. 
| AUENTS 
WANTED 
ACME PULVERIZING HAKHOW, CLOD CRUSHER AND LEVELER. 
Adapted to all soils, all "work. Cmslies, cuts, 
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Cheapest riding harrow on earth. $8.00 and up. 
CENT UN TRTST To be returned at my expense DUANE H. N ASH, Solo JTI’i ’r, 
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PLEASE MENTION THIS PAPER. 
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pamphlet 
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IMPROVES 
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i K ! a"Muffin? 
IMPROVED HYDRAULIC RAMS. 
Thousands In use in all sections 
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„ ano p-iee lists address 
Allen Gawthrop, Jr., Wilmington, Del 
