822 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
December 18 
All communications intended for this 
department should, for the next seren 
months, be addressed toE. S. Carman, No. 
5 West 82nd Street, New York . 
GRAPES. 
A Resume of the hardy grapes which have 
been tried at the Rural Oroumis 
daring the past 20 years. 
Contrary to The R. N.-Y.’s experience, 
several of Prof. Munson’s new grapes 
have done very well with our respected 
friend, Benjamin Buckman, of Farming- 
dale, Ill. Last year, judging from vines 
planted in 1893, he was inclined to re¬ 
gard some of them as rather unfruitful 
but, like some of the Japan plums, it 
seems they need a little more age than 
those of the Concord class, to bring them 
into full bearing. Many of those having 
the Post Oak “blood’’each produced, 
the past season, from 30 to 50 pounds of 
fruit. Among these, he names America 
—which, however, rots some—Hopkins, 
and Big Extra. For those who like a 
very sweet grape as Lady, Delaware and 
Green Mountain, those named will not 
rank high in quality ; but there can 
be no objection on that score, Mr. Buck- 
man says, to the Onderdonk. This vari¬ 
ety bore fully 40 pounds the past season. 
The bunch is very large, and the berry 
quite small but very attractive, “ re¬ 
sembling little pearls.” Mr. Buckman 
finds that this variety is not harmed by 
15 degrees below zero, which would kill 
such varieties as Cunningham and Her- 
bemont. 
The Bashberg catalogue describes it 
in this way : “Cluster large, compound, 
compact, conical; berry a shade larger 
than Herbemont, of light greenish-yel¬ 
low color, translucent; skin thin, tough; 
pulp melting, very juicy, pure, sprightly, 
sweet; seeds small, one to three. It is 
an exquisite dessert and wine grape.” 
Hermann Jaeger is still a favorite with 
Mr. Buckman. It ripens with the Con¬ 
cord, and will keep a month later. The 
Bushberg catalogue describes it as, 
“ Vine exceedingly vigorous, very pro¬ 
ductive, hardy and healthy. Bunch very 
large, compact, shouldered, sometimes 
double-shoulaered ; berry medium, dark 
purple color, covered with a rich bloom; 
it adheres very persistently to the stem ; 
quality very good, j uice red, sweet and 
sprigUtly, pulp melting, skin thin and 
tough ; ripens a few days later than 
Concord.” 
Geo. W. Campbell, of Delaware, 0., 
regards it as very valuable both for wine 
and table use. The genuine Post Oak 
(Vitis Lincecumii) grape fruited with Mr. 
Buckman the past season for the first, 
and showed him plainly enough whence 
some of Mr. Munson’s varieties get their 
productiveness. 
Mr. Buckman pronounces Dr. Stay- 
man’s White Imperial the best of the 
new grapes tested the past season. The 
vine seems productive, the bunches 
medium in size, the berry small, but it 
has a pearliness that is attractive. The 
flavor is like that of the Duchess, a seed¬ 
ling of the late A. J. Caywood and not 
at all reliable in most sections. Should 
the White Imperial prove reliable with 
Mr. Buckman, he will prefer it to the 
Green Mountain (Winchell) which is only 
a few days earlier. Bull’s Ester has dis¬ 
appointed Mr. Buckman in that it was 
not productive, and the flavor lacked 
life. This grape, at the Rural Grounds, 
as we have stated, is not of high flavor, 
it is true, but the vine is hardy and pro¬ 
ductive. 
Cortland, though as early as Cham¬ 
pion, is no better in any respect, except 
that the berry hangs well after ripen¬ 
ing ; Paragon (Burr) is promising. The 
vine seems productive and healthy ; the 
bunch and berry are of goodly size, and 
the quality, while not quite so good as 
that of Brighton, which it somewhat 
resembles in flavor, is, nevertheless, 
very good. 
Hundreds of new varieties of grapes 
have been originated and introduced 
during the past 20 years, with very posi¬ 
tive claims that they were superior to 
the old Concord, Catawba and Delaware. 
Rogers’s hybrids were the first to give 
us hope that a marked progress had 
been made. How many of these hy¬ 
brids are now regarded as superior to 
them in quality of grape, vigor and 
hardiness of vine ? The result of Mr. 
Ricketts’s years of assiduous work, as 
we j udged it by the magnificent bunches 
which, for several years, he displayed 
at the leading fairs, gave us hope that 
he had succeeded in combining the very 
best qualities of the native and foreign 
varieties. How many of these grapes 
are popular to-day ? Some of them suc¬ 
ceed very well on the Huison. and in 
other favored loea ities, but not one of 
them is well known in the market. At 
the Rural Grounds, they are all absolute 
failures from one cause or another. 
Lady Washington was planted at the 
Rural Grounds about 1878. During the 
winter of 1880, the vines froze to the 
ground, so that the first fruit was borne 
not until 1882. Only bagged bunches 
matured. Several of these were among 
the most beautiful we have ever raised, 
both as to size of cluster and delicate 
tint of berry. But the vine, in a few 
years, succumbed to mildew and ten¬ 
derness. 
Highland, another of Ricketts’s most 
promising sorts (Concord-f-Jura Muscat), 
was found to be too late for the Rural 
Grounds. The leaves mildewed and the 
berries rotted. Some of the bunches of 
the Highland exhibited by Mr. Ricketts, 
were the showiest, most perfect speci¬ 
mens of hardy black grapes the writer 
has ever seen. It must have been intro¬ 
duced about the year 1877, so that it has 
been on trial nearly 20 years ; yet we do 
not hear of it. Much the same may be 
said of Newburgh and Naomi, the latter 
of which Mr. Ricketts pronounced one 
of the most magnificent table grapes 
that ever grew. 
Eldorado, full sister to Lady Washing¬ 
ton, where it succeeds, is, probably, the 
best early white grape in existence. 
We copy a Rural Grounds note, written 
September 12, 1882: “Eldorado fully 
ripe; white, sweet, translucent. The 
only perfect bunch was bagged. The 
quality of this grape is very fine, the 
berry larger than Lady Washington. 
The vine is vigorous, but mildews.” 
Bush, Son & Meissner say : “ It is, per¬ 
haps, the highest flavored grape in ex¬ 
istence, possessing a delicate though 
decided aroma, resembling pineapples.” 
But we hear nothing of this superb 
grape. The leading nurserymen do not 
catalogue it. Much the same may be 
said of all the other Ricketts’s hybrids. 
It would seem that crosses between the 
Eldorado and Lady (not Lady Washing¬ 
ton) with Winchell, or Diamond, or Del¬ 
aware or Campbell’s Early, might result 
in a variety superior to either parent. 
The late T. B. Miner, of Linden Union 
County, N. J., raised about 1,500 seed¬ 
lings from Concord seed. The best of 
these he named Antoinette, Belinda, 
Augusta, Carlotta, Lexington, Rocking- 
ham and Victoria. A vine of each, ex¬ 
cept Belinda, was sent to the Rural 
Grounds during the spring of 1878. Of 
this collection, Victoria has proved the 
most valuable. The others are less 
desirable than other later introductions 
The Victoria is as hardy as any vine we 
have ever tried. During the winter of 
1879, it was the only variety that was 
not killed back more or less. It has 
borne heavily every year save the season 
of the blizzard, 1888. One year, we 
gathered 55 bunches, of medium size for 
the most part, some shouldered, some 
not, all of them compact, the berries not 
quite so large as those of Concord, hav¬ 
ing a heavy white bloom. The berries 
never crack; the bunches are never locse 
or scraggly. They ripen nearly with Con¬ 
cords, are less foxy, but not so sweet. 
During the spring of 1883, we planted 
the following varieties received from 
Jacob Rommel, Morrison, Mo. : Amber, 
Elvira, Faith, Pearl and Transparent 
None of them proved to be of any 
especial value. 
The Vergennes, which originated with 
Wm. E. Green, of Vergennes, Vt., in 
1874, first fruited at the Rural Grounds 
in 1882. The bunches are of medium 
size and compact. Berries about the 
(Continued on next page.) 
Rheumatism 
Caused Great Suffering —A Well 
Man Since Taking Hood’s. 
“ X was afflicted with rhematism and have been 
a great sufferer with this disease and also 
with stomach and heart troubles, but thanks 
to Hood’s Sarsaparilla I am now a well man. 
My wife has been cured of kidney disease by 
Hood’s Sarsaparilla.” Aug. Schreiner, 317 W. 
59th Street, New York, N. Y. Remember 
Hood’s Sarsaparilla 
Is the best—in fact the One True Blood Purifier. 
Sold by all druggists. $1; six for $5. 
Hrkr»rl’c Dillc are prompt, efflc ent and 
1 IUUu .» I 11 Id easy in effect, l 25 cents. 
Intensive Cultivation is the Keynote to 8 uccessl” 
SUCCESS 
Waits on all who subscribe to 
* • $1.00 a Year. V Every Saturday. 
A Complete Practical Guide to Every Phase of 
Plant Culture in the Open and Under Glass 
and the Development of Land and Homo. 
THE SOIL’S PRODUCTIVENESS INCREASED. 
Send $1.00 for a year’s subscription; it will earn 
you $100 before the twelve months are up. A 
premium to every subscriber. Sample copy free. 
State where you saw this advertisement and address 
IN. GARDENING, P.0. Box 1697, New fork. 
Vegetables 
can be raised at a profit, and 
the yield enlarged, if properly 
fertilized. Most fertilizers do 
do not contain enough 
Potash. 
Vegetables need plenty of pot¬ 
ash — at least \o% — besides 
the phosphoric acid and nitro¬ 
gen. 
Write for our books which tell all about 
fertilizers. They are free. 
GERMAN KALI WORKS, 
93 Nassau St., New York. 
Home-Mixed 
Fertilizers 
A man can save hundreds of 
dollars by mixing his own 
fertilizers. He saves about 
half the first cost; he can use 
the materials best adapted to 
the particular crop, and conse¬ 
quently secure the best re¬ 
sults possible for the money 
spent. Nitrate of Soda should 
be used to furnish the nitro¬ 
gen (ammonia). It is not only 
the cheapest , but the most sol¬ 
uble, available, and in every 
way the best formof nitrogen. 
Ft*AA A 40-page book, “Food for Plants.” 
r 1 CC Tells all about mixing and using 
fertilizers. Please ask for it. 
S. M. HARRIS. MORETON FARM (P. O.) N. Y. 
“f” C & C2 —YOU CaU secure 2 5 to 100 
3 JNt EL EL a Trees free, or earn $io to $15 
weekly this winter taking orders. I pack free.pay 
freight,and replace what dies. Reasonable prices. 
Honest goods. Particulars free. Write me. 
CHARLES H. CHASE, Nurseryman, ROCHESTER, N. Y. 
200,000 
LUCUKTIA DEWBERRY TIPS; very 
Une, heavily rooted. Price, $1 per 
100; $6 per 1,000; *25 per 5 000-by 
freight or express. My new 32-page Illustrated 
Strawberry Catalogue now ready. Best out. Sent 
f pAQ A liriroQC 
W. F. ALLEN, JK , Salisbury, Aid. 
HARRISON’S 
BERLIN, Nil)., 
have one and a half million 
PEACH TREES 
grown from natural seed. Send for prices. 
PEACH TREES 
75 Varieties in Stock. 
print] TREES. 3c. All kinds of stock cheap. 
ILnUii reliance nursery, Bjx 10, Geneva, N.Y. 
$>1.50 for 1,000 Brandywine Stberry Pits. Orders 
booked now for spring. T. C. Kevitt, Athenia, N. J. 
Largest stock of Peach Trees in the 
country. Descriptive Catalogue FREE. 
JOS. H. BLACK, SON & CO., 
Village Nurseries, UIOHTSTO WN, N. J. 
1,000,000 STRAWBERRY PLANTS 
For Fall and Spring. All Young Plants. All the leading NEW and Old Standard Sorts, grown on land 
never occupied by strawberry plants before. Prices right. Write for Special Price. Catalogue Free 
AnTHUR J. COL.LIN8, Moorostown, NT. J. 
We PAY FREIGHT 
y one of Stark 12 Challenge Points—the 
; plainly show WHY Stark Bio’s grow and 
full 12plainly snow why stark Bros grow 
sell the most trees. Then, we will not cut guafity no matter how LOW our price 
If interested in trees or fruits drop postal for crri ADI/ cnillT |)AAI/ 
new edition; finest, most complete yet issued OI.fiI\I\.riYLJlI DVl/I\ 
sent free. STARK BR0§, Louisiana. Mo. Stark, Mo. Rockport, III. Dansville, N.Y. 
19 TIMES 
TOO HIGH 
We have told you before that trees not so good were sold at double our 
prices, and that toere were no better or cheaper at any price, also that 
our trees speak for themselves, wherever they go. Here’s the proof, 
from a club order: Tioga County, Pa., 11727/97. 
Isaac U. Rogers, Dansville, N. Y: 
All the parties were well pleased with the trees, and one of them 
who delivered for a New York Nursery said some of the trees at 5c. 
each were as good as he got $1 each for last spring. b. w. 
4ST Our prices are not tne “ lowest on earth,” but if you want 
honest trees at honest prices, let us tell you about them. 
etc. advertise themselves. The best 
always cheapest. Can supply all your wants 
from Flower and Vegetable Seeds to 
Street Trees at low rates. We publish one ol 
the leading Seed, Plant and Tree Cata- 
_ _, logues issued which we mail free. Try us, 
our stock and prices will please you. Can refer 
you to customers in every state and territory in the Union. 43 years of square dealing has made ui 
patrons and friends far and near. Have hundreds of car-loads of FRUIT AND ORNAMEN¬ 
TAL. TREES, SHRUBS, ROSES, PLANTS, ETC. We send by mail postpaid Seeds 
Plants, Bulbs, Roses, Small Trees, etc., safe arrival and satisfaction guaranteed, larger by exprest 
or freight. 44 th year. 32 Greenhouses. 1,000 acres. 
THE STORRS & HARRISON CO. ( Box 26, PAINESVILLE, O. 
