THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
June 1 
388 
Van Deman’s Fruit Notes. 
ALU SORTS OF QUESTIONS ANSWERED. 
Propagating Plums from Sprouts. 
E. 8. O., Madison, Wis .—What would be 
the effect of propagating the native plum 
from sprouts as regards the tendency of 
the trees grown therefrom to produce 
sprouts? It has been claimed that the 
growing of trees from sprouts increased 
the tendency to sprout, and I would like 
your opinion on this question with refer¬ 
ence to the Americana plum. 
Ans. —In my experience with the 
Americana and other species of plums 
propagated from sprouts and with the 
cherry and other fruits, I have never 
noticed any increase of the tendency to 
sprout; nor have I noticed a diminution 
of this characteristic, as a result of pro¬ 
pagation by grafting. 1 do not think a 
method of propagation has any material 
effect upon the constitutional peculiari¬ 
ties of a species of plant, at least within 
the limits of an ordinary lifetime. 
Barren Apricots. 
J. H. R.. Schoolcraft, Mich.—Can you tell 
me how to get some apricots from my 
trees? They are from six to eight inches 
through, are full of blossom every year, 
but have never ripened a single fruit. 
Most of them drop before they burst the 
calyx. A very few hang on until they are 
as large as a peach-pit and then drop off. 
. Ans. —The common Plum curculio 
stings the fruit of almost every apricot 
tree planted east of the Rocky Moun¬ 
tains, and causes it to drop before it is 
grown, provided it escapes damage by 
Spring frosts. In some sections, as for 
instance, in western New York, there is 
less of this trouble than elsewhere, and 
there are some profitable orchards there. 
But in nearly every case more or less 
jarring is done to catch the insects be¬ 
fore the stinging is done. 
Wood Veneer Tree Protectors. 
H. B. 8., Plymouth, Ill.—T>o you advise 
leaving the veneer tree protectors on tree 
during Summer, and will they protect trees 
from borers? They are satisfactory for 
rabbits. Do you advise using them? Will 
insecfts enter at top and lay eggs that make 
the borer at or near the ground, and 
would they hatch? 
Ans. —The most extensive orchardists 
using the wood veneer tree wrappers, so 
far as I have seen, leave them on all the 
year. They are excellent for the pur¬ 
pose of keeping off rabbits and they also 
prevent borers to some extent. The eggs 
of the Round-headed apple-tree borer 
are usually laid just where the trunk 
meets the earth, and if the wrapper is 
pushed well down to the earth there is 
almost no chance for this insect to lay 
the eggs where Nature dictates. Very 
rarely the eggs are laid a foot or more 
above the ground, especially where the 
shade is dense, and it is possible that a 
few may be laid above the wrappers. 
They are likely to hatch wherever they 
are laid, for they are slightly inserted 
in the bark. 
Various Orchard Questions. 
W. H. R., Springfield, Mo.—l. Will Kleffer 
pear reproduce itself from seed where no 
other variety blooms at the same time? 
2. Will Richmond cherry succeed budded 
on Marianna plum roots? 3. What do you 
thina of wood veneer to wrap apple and 
pears? Here in southern Missouri we are 
troubled in the Winter with rabbits, and 
in tire Spring with borers; and on pear 
trees with sunscald in July, August and 
September, and it looks to me as though 
we ought to keep the young trees wrapped 
about all the year. Is there anything bet¬ 
ter than wood veneer? 4. Will Kieffer 
seedlings make good stocks to bud or graft 
Seckel and Duchess on? 5. Will the Lin¬ 
coln pear succeed here on the Ozark hills, 
and at what age does it begin to fruit? 
Ans. —1. No, the Kieffer pear will not 
reproduce itself true from seed, nor will 
any other variety do so. 2. The Rich¬ 
mond cherry will do very well on the 
Marianna plum as a stock, so some have 
told me, but I never tried it. 3. Wood 
veneer is very good for wrappers to pre¬ 
vent injury from rabbits and I do not 
see any serious objection to it, although 
I have heard a few persons say that the 
veneer made a harbor for insect pests. 
I have never noticed anything of the 
kind, but on the contrary, I have found 
them an advantage in keeping borers 
out of the trees. 4. I have never seen 
Kieffer pear seedlings used as stocks for 
other varieties, but I believe they would 
be good. 5. The Lincoln pear will suc¬ 
ceed where other varieties do, and be¬ 
gins to bear at five to 10 years old. It 
is not of high quality. 
Borers in Apple Trees. 
L. G. L., Victor, N. F.—Can you tell me 
what to do for borers in young apple trees? 
I set about 45 trees four years ago. and I 
find that some of the newer varieties, like 
McIntosh Red, Yellow Transparent, Sut¬ 
ton Beauty and lew others are badly hurt 
by the borers; in fact, some of the trees 
have already died, and I am obliged to 
take them out. I find four or five borers 
in a trunk. The trees have been well culti¬ 
vated and even spaded around, so that 
they have had clean culture from the start 
and have made remarkable growth. 1 
have never had any experience with them, 
and I would like to know what I shall do 
to prevent their damage. 
Ans.— The first thing to do with apple 
trees of any age that are affected with 
borers is carefully and patiently to dig 
every one of them out as soon as their 
presence is suggested. There are two 
common kinds of apple-tree borers. The 
one that is prevalent in the Eastern 
States is the Round-headed borer, and 
does its work at or very near the collar 
of the tree. The best cheap preventive 
that I know of is to bind heavy manilla 
paper about the base of the tree, from 
an inch or more helow the surface of 
the soil to nearly a foot above it. This 
should be done when there are no borers 
in, and usually about the time the buds 
swell in Spring, so as to prevent the lay¬ 
ing of eggs in the bark by the beetles, 
which work is done mainly during the 
Spring and early Summer. 
Fumigation for Bedbugs. 
H. B., South Tlaven, Mich.—On page 308 you 
tell how to kill bedbugs. Nothing is said 
about using the acid more than once. Won’t 
there be another crop of bugs hatching 
from eggs left, which should be killed later 
by a second fumigation? If so, how long 
a time should elapse between the two fumi¬ 
gations? 
Ans. —The acid can be used only once. 
After each fumigation pour out the con¬ 
tents of the jar. It contains potash and 
is useful as a fertilizer. A second fumi¬ 
gation, about 20 days after the first, will 
kill many of the later-hatcheJ bugs. In 
some cases, several fumigations are 
needed to ensure a thorough job. 
Cause and Treatment for Crown Gall. 
F. E. H., Bucyrus, Ran .—Is the cause of 
the disease known as root knot or crown 
gall in apple and pear trees known, and its 
remedy or preventive? It is a matter of 
.serious importance to nurserymen in the 
West. I j.i 
J. O’B., Red mu. Fa.—Can you tell me 
anything as to the causes of crown gall 
or root gall on apple trees? I see speci¬ 
mens occasionally in the nursery, and 
don’t know any remedy. 
Ans. —This disease, which is really a 
fleshy outgrowth of the roots of decidu¬ 
ous fruit trees, has been studied at a 
number of experiment stations, but no 
definite conclusions seem to have been 
reached. The best statement of the dis¬ 
ease is given in Bulletin No. 33 of the 
Arizona Station, at Tucson. What is 
known as crown gall is a swelling which 
appears generally at the crown of the 
root of young trees. As it first appears 
the gall is of the same color as the sound 
root. Later a dark color appears, caused 
by a deposit of dead matter. The galls 
are generally located upon one side of 
the root body, and have a softer tissue 
than that of the root. It is believed by 
most investigators that crown gall is a 
contagious disease, the germs of which 
are carried about in various ways. Some 
authorities dispute this, claiming that 
the galls follow some injury to the root; 
but the general opinion appears to be 
that the trouble is contagious like other 
diseases. The disease spreads in various 
ways. In the West, the chief spread has 
been from the nursery. In nurrery rows 
the disease spreads rapidly from one 
small tree to another, and when these 
trees are sent out and planted, whole or¬ 
chards are infected. The germs are so 
small that they are carried by the wind. 
They are also carried through the soil 
by the water in drainage, and where or¬ 
chards are irrigated. Decayed galls and 
the bark at the surface roots may be 
broken off in cultivating and scattered 
in this way. Through carelessness the 
disease has been widely scattered. One 
case is mentioned in which trees were 
dug up, cut into stove wood, and sold 
throughout the neighborhood. In this 
way the galls were scattered every¬ 
where, and infected many orchards. The 
losses from crown gall are considerable. 
The disease generally works under¬ 
ground, and has been overlooked by 
most of our growers thus far. Thousands 
of trees have dwindled and died or fail¬ 
ed to bear fruit for some reason un¬ 
known to the fruit grower. In the West 
especially it is thought that many of 
these cases of decline and death have 
been directly due to the work of the 
crown gall. Many young trees have died 
outright and broken off just beneath the 
surface of the ground as the result of 
the galls, which gradually weakened the 
stem. Prof. Tourney, formerly of Ari¬ 
zona, says that the majority of diseased 
trees live on year after year, but make 
less growth, and produce less and poorer 
fruit than healthy trees. A tree afflicted 
with this gall cannot do its best. It is 
estimated that the annual loss from this 
disease here is $1,000,000 or more. 
So little is known about the disease 
that no certain remedy has been sug¬ 
gested. The best remedy thus far found 
has been to cut the galls from the crown 
of the tree and paint the wound with a 
paste made of sulphate of copper, sul¬ 
phate of iron and lime. This is usually 
effective, although in some cases where 
the work is not well done, new galls ap¬ 
pear at the edges of the wound. The 
galls that form deep down on the roots 
are not so destructive as those on the 
crown of the tree, and if they are re¬ 
moved the tree will be benefited. In 
Arizona orchards have been kept in good 
condition by inspecting the trees once a 
year, cutting off the galls as they appear 
and painting with the paste above men¬ 
tioned. Trees in their first or second 
year suffer more than older ones. If 
possible, nursery stock free from galls 
should be obtained. If young trees al¬ 
ready having galls upon them Le plant¬ 
ed, there is not one chance in 100. ac¬ 
cording to Prof. Tourney, that they will 
ever come to successful fruitage. A sin¬ 
gle diseased tree in an orchard will 
carry the disease all over it. It bundles 
of trees are received having a few of 
these galls upon them, the whole should 
be destroyed, for it will not be safe sim¬ 
ply to pick out those that can be seen. 
In the West this gall disease la getting 
to be a serious thing, and laws are de¬ 
manded requiring a rigid inspection, so 
tnat nurserymen shall not sell trees 
bearing galls. 
Cyclopedia of American Horticulture, 
by L. H. Bailey and collaborators. Vol. HI.; 
N to Q. New York, Macmillan & Co. Price 
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FOR CHILDREN 
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And “important” means that 
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Whenever they show the least 
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It is to be used as a food, 
whenever their usual food does 
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of food. 
We’ll send you a little to try, if you like. 
SCOTT & BOWNE. 4 og Pearl street. New York. 
School of Practical Agriculture 
and Horticulture. 
Two years course In Gardening, Fruit Culture, 
Greenhouse Work, Poultry and General Agriculture. 
Begins September. For particulars address 
GEO. T. POWKLI., Director, 
Briarcliff Manor, N. Y. 
“ Neighbor, tell me how it is that you have money 
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a scale of-at about the same time. I sent my 
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C600D 
Special offer and agency if yon so 
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Sweet Potato Plants.—Jersey Yellow 
$1.50 per 1,000. 100 by mail, 60c. 11 kinds. Send for 
circular. F. S. NEWCOMB, Vineland, N. J. 
r&PM&lV 0 $1.90 barrel. Quick shipments. 30 
villilllaii itU* Ugtandard var. BannerField Beans, 
Dent Field Corn. 26 B. F. R. Eggs, $1.50; for exhibition, 
$2.50. S. J. Smith’s Potato Farm. Manchester, N. Y. 
Early Tomato and Celery Plants 
set, write Frank Shearer & Son. Binghamton, 
N. Y., for prices on stocky transplanted plants. 
CABBAGE PLANTS Summer, Succession 
All Season. Surebead. Danish Ballhead and Kotllers 
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NEW CRIMSON CLOVER SEED 
My own growing. Ready July 1. Orders booked 
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