69o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
October 23 
difference in trees of the same variety, but the reason 
for this difference I am unable, at present, to explain. 
For instance, I have a Ben Davis tree that bears a 
good crop of fruit annually, which the others do not. 
It may be a peculiarity in the soil in which the tree 
stands ; and it may be in the tree itself, which, I 
think, is the case. Anyway, I am growing some 
stock grafted from it, and I confidently expect that it 
will prove my contention, that it will pay as well to 
propagate from trees showing excellent traits as to 
take great pains in selecting corn, wheat, oats, etc , 
for seed.” 
“Then you think a variety of apple can be im¬ 
proved by grafting from trees that show the best 
characteristics of that variety when they come into 
bearing ? ” 
“ Why not ? When a farmer picks out his seed corn, 
he selects the ears that are as near his ideal as pos¬ 
sible. This has been followed by some men so long 
that they now have corn that is almost perfection. 
If corn can be perfected in this way, why not apples ? 
If corn deteriorates when any sort of an ear or nub¬ 
bin is planted, why not apples when grafts are taken 
from any sort of a tree? I consider trees grown 
from selected, proved stock worth more than double 
those grown from anything and everything.” 
“What apple do you consider the best for market ?” 
“The Jonathan. I have 2,800 trees planted, and 
wish I had more. It grows well, bears well and sells 
at the top price.” 
“ What other varieties have you ? ” 
“ Ben Davis, Akin, Missouri Pippin, Clayton, 
Minkler, Gano, Huntsman, Grimes’s Golden and 
Duchess. My orchard consists chiefly of Jonathan, 
Ben Davis, Missouri Pippin and Akin. We have found 
it necessary to mix the varieties in order to insure 
perfect fertilization of the blossoms. A large orchard 
of a single variety is a beautiful thing to look at, be¬ 
cause all the trees are alike ; but it will never bear 
anything like a full crop. I would not give $1 an 
acre for such an orchard eight 
or ten years old. Then we 
find another advantage in 
mixing varieties : One is more 
certain of a crop, for it rarely 
happens that all varieties fail 
in any one season.” 
“ How far apart do you 
plant ? ” 
‘ ‘ Thirty-three feet each 
way. The trees begin bearing 
the seventh year, and should 
produce a full crop the tenth.” 
“You spray, I suppose?” 
“ Spray for scab and for 
everything else, carefully 
examine every tree twice a 
year for borers, paint for 
rabbits, thin out the tops and balance them, and cul¬ 
tivate, cultivate, cultivate ! If one expects to bring 
an orchard up from infancy to bearing age unim¬ 
paired and without the loss of a single tree, he must 
fairly live in it. When an orchard reaches bearing 
age in perfect condition, the owner has a mine that 
beats any in Klondyke. From some of my old trees, 
I this season picked 18 bushels of marketable fruit. 
I can get $2 50 per barrel for it; so you can see what 
a good thing I have with 40 such trees to the acre.” 
“ Are your other fruits profitable ? ” 
“ I have 1,500 pears, mostly Keiffer and Garber, set 
18 x 20 feet apart, and my first plantings are just com¬ 
ing into bearing. They are grand, young trees, and 
produce fruit of the best quality which, if properly 
handled, is beautiful to look at and sells at paying 
prices. The secret of selling Keiffer pears to advan¬ 
tage is in the handling. They must be gathered when 
fully matured, and properly ripened before being 
placed on the market. An unripe Keiffer is not as 
good for eating as a raw potato ; but when properly 
ripened, it is a splendid cooker and canner and a fair 
dessert pear. I regard my pear orchard as a bonanza 
of the first water.” 
“ What about your peaches ? ” 
“I have 1,500 peach trees planted, and this season, 
marketed a fine lot at good prices. The Elberta is 
my best peach, with the Thurber a close second. The 
trees are cared for the same as the apple and pear 
trees and, as you can see for yourself, are a fine, 
thrifty lot. Over yonder in the corner are a lot that 
I bought from a prominent nursery for Oldmixon 
Free ; this season, they are bearing their first crop, 
and they are nothing but the meanest kind of seed¬ 
lings, and will have to be grubbed up. Grow your 
own stock if you wish to avoid such losses.” 
“ What varieties of plums have you ? ” 
“Blue Damson, Burbank and Abundance. And, 
by the way, I think that the Burbank should have 
been named Abundance. It is such a heavy bearer 
that only the severest pruning will enable it to ripen 
the abundance of its fruit. I consider the Blue Dam¬ 
son the most profitable plum. It is a heavy bearer, 
a good shipper, sells well in all parts of the country, 
and it comes nearest to being curculio-proof of any. 
“Yes, sir, this is a very fine fruit country—as good 
as the best in the United States, I think ; but as in 
other places, the enemies of fruit and fruit trees are 
here in multitudes, and only the wideawake hustler 
who fairly lives with bis trees, and manages them 
scientifically, will make a success of fruit culture. It 
is no business for the shiftless, the dude, or the man 
who does not keep posted and right up with the times.” 
FRED GRUNDY. 
(To be continued.) 
THE BUFF COLOR IN POULTRY. 
WHERE DO THE “ NEW BREEDS ” COME FROM ? 
We find a great deal of interest displayed by our readers as to 
the origin of some of the buff breeds of poultry. Where does this 
yellow color come from ? Is It true that the buff in such breeds 
as Leghorns, Wyandottes, etc., means that blood from some other 
breed like the Cochin, has been introduced ? Will you tell us just 
how such new colors are started and fixed ? How long does it 
usually take to fix such a new breed or sport ? Do you know of 
any new breeds just now in process of evolution ? 
Would Perfect Old Breeds. 
These new Buff Leghorns, Buff Wyandottes and 
Buff Plymouth Rocks are made by crossing, but just 
what breeds are used, I really cannot say, as I was 
never interested in crossing breeds, or getting up new 
breeds. I find much to interest myself in trying to 
perfect the old pure breeds. There are several well- 
established breeds that were brought about by cross¬ 
ing. The Barred Plymouth Rocks were made by 
crosses ; as a proof of this, feathers will crop out 
sometimes on the legs, showing that one of the breeds 
used had feathered legs, and it will be many years 
before there will not be occasionally a bird with 
feathers or stubs of feathers on the legs. There are 
always some that seem to have a craze to get up new 
breeds, and they do it to make money. If a breeder 
succeed in getting up a new breed, there are always 
some that will try, thinking that they can sell at good 
prices before they become plentiful, p. williams. 
Strange How they Sport so Conveniently. 
The buff color, like white or black, is a natural 
one, but careful selection has fixed it permanently on 
some breeds. I had common fowls that were buff as 
far back as 1850. At that time, the Dominique was 
the only fowl honored with the designation of 
“breed”, and it is nearly of the same form and color 
now. Nearly all buff breeds “made up” in this 
country may be traced to the Buff Cochin. First a 
cross of Buff Cochin is made on some white fowl, the 
cleanest-legged specimens being retained. The fe¬ 
males of the cross are bred to a purebred male, say 
Plymouth Rock and, as there will be some buffs, 
they will be retained. In the course of breeding, the 
form of the Plymouth Rock (or any preferred breed) 
is secured, and the buff color gradually fixed. New 
buff breeds are seldom of good color at first. Occa¬ 
sionally, one will come across a buff fowl on a farm, 
of no breed particularly, and it is used as a founda¬ 
tion upon which to start. A trio of Buffs at a show 
may be the only Buffs in a hundred chicks hatched 
from the same flock at first. After careful selection 
for several years, the buff color becomes fixed, per¬ 
fect specimens, however, not appearing for eight or 
ten years or more. 
My experience has been that breeds are “ discov¬ 
ered” when wanted. After the Black Langshans 
came, somebody brought the White variety. The 
Silver Wyandottes were followed very quickly by 
the White, Black, Golden and Buff. The same with 
the Plymouth Rocks. Leghorns are of all colors. 
Objection to the tall, single combs of Leghorns and 
Minorcas was sufficient to bring out the rose-comb 
varieties. To fix the characteristics of a new breed, 
really requires a decade or more ; but to get a rose- 
comb or particular color on existing breeds does not 
seem to require over a year or two, with some. Of 
course, many such are crosses, but cannot be detected 
if form and comb are correct, as the new color hides 
plumage defects, and allowances are always made for 
new breeds. Many new breeds, or changes of color, 
are made in England and brought over here. When 
an American breeder crosses for new color, he will 
term it a sport, and it seems that all breeds sport 
just at a time when it is desired for them to do so. 
I do not know of any new breeds now in progress, 
but if Pie-bald Plymouth Rocks should be in de¬ 
mand, the Plymouth Rocks over the whole country 
would kindly respond to the invitation, and begin 
to sport Pie-bald chicks by the dozen, p. h. Jacobs. 
Buff Color a Byway, not a Distinction. 
Nature has implanted in the race the habit and 
power to produce two color pigments—black and red 
—either of which may be lessened in amount until 
finally bred out; all color effects may be classed as 
originating in this manner. If red goes, we have a 
black breed; if this, also, gradually disappears, we 
may have in one case a solid blue, in the other, a 
blue-barred color, according as the black goes out 
evenly or in alternations of greater and less amounts, 
as the process of feather-growth takes place. When 
all color has been eliminated, we have a white fowl 
in greater or less degree of purity, from various 
causes not necessary to discuss here. We will suppose 
that, instead of the red pigment being suspended as 
above considered, this remains and black disappears, 
giving us two familiar effects—pure white in parts 
normally black, and red retained massed in sections, 
as in pile-colored fowls; or this red, from natural 
determination or the breeders’ selection, may be 
made to cover in a tolerable degree, the whole 
plumage, and we have the theoretical explanation of 
the buff-colored fowl. 
The practical breeder of buff fowls finds much to 
hinder his attainment of full success, namely, ten¬ 
dencies to impurity of color in two principal direc¬ 
tions, the encroachments of black and the diminution 
of red, as one generation suc¬ 
ceeds another. The part most 
predisposed to black is the 
tail, and it is the rule of 
breeders to tolerate a small 
amount of black in that part, 
especially in the lower por¬ 
tions of the feathers. If this 
is not allowed, the only re¬ 
course is to breed from birds 
weak in color, albeit desirable 
as show specimens, and we 
soon have a race of faded-out 
buffs, to restore which the 
old-time breeders of Buff 
Cochins, having rejected the 
deeper-colored males out of 
deference to fashion, used to 
resort to Partridge Cochin crosses to liven up the color. 
Buff is, at best, a fleeting color; but the rational system 
of breeding is to feed the blood constantly, using for 
the purpose a male of great excellence in all points 
save color, a shade too deep for showing, but calcu¬ 
lated to offset the constant tendency for the females 
to assume too light a hue. These extreme matings 
bring in a strong tendency to off-type specimens as to 
color, and this brings us to the practical considera¬ 
tion of our leading question, Where does this yellow 
color come from ? 
The importation of Buff Leghorns from England 
about seven years ago, precipitated upon our fanciers 
the prevalent furore for “ gold standard ” poultry. 
It was at once recognized that buff color was to have 
the call, as the albino varieties had held the balance 
of attention during 10 years previous. The demand 
was a sudden one, and was hurriedly met by working 
together whatever promised soonest to yield the right 
combination of shape and color. The Buff P. Rocks 
had the advantage of the best material, color and 
shape, both considered, ready to hand with few and 
slight changes, in the form of Buff Cochin and Bucks 
County blood, the problem being simply to breed the 
Cochin feathers from the shanks and toes and slightly 
reduce the size. A single cross would give an occa¬ 
sional typical specimen, and two or three seasons 
would bring them into a tolerable breeding condition. 
Of the many different stocks of this new type, it is 
probable that this was a favorite method. In some 
instances, it has been reported that both P. Rocks and 
Wyandottes have been evolved from a common stock, 
and that the same as now constitutes the Rhode Island 
Red breed. The Golden Wyandotte has, apparently, 
been used in the makeup of the Buff Wyandotte. 
The Buff Leghorn reached us in a very crude condi¬ 
tion, comparatively speaking, and as judged by the 
manifest improvement in the winning specimens now 
seen at our most important shows, their advancement 
in both bodily type and color is nothing short of 
amazing when contrasted with the stock as origi¬ 
nally imported. Those who handle this can best 
DISEASED CRIMSON CLOVER LEAVES. Fig. 290. See Ruralisms, Page 694. 
