693 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Agreement of a Tree Agent. 
Reader .—Will you print the agreement 
used on blanks issued by tree agents who 
do business for nurserymen? 
Ans. —^The following agreement is 
taken from the order blank of one of 
the most reliable nurseries in the coun¬ 
try; 
In Consideration of the delivery of 
stock named below, I promise to pay to 
.the sum of. 
dollars in cash. Any stock omitted to 
be deducted from amount specified. AH 
stock leaving the nursery guaranteed 
to be in a thrifty and healthy condition. 
All claims for allowances must be made 
within one week after delivery. Any 
agreement made between purchaser and 
agent must be written on the face of 
this order. This order not subject to 
countermand. If any of the varieties or¬ 
dered should be exhausted in the nur¬ 
sery, you may supply others ripening at 
or near the same time, considered by 
you equally desirable. 
?. Signed. 
Various Fruit Questions. 
C. W. F., Wayville, N. Y.—1. Will Rome 
Beauty and Sutton apples succeed well on 
rich sandy and gravelly loam, well under¬ 
drained and well air-drained. Good ele¬ 
vation in southeastern part of Saratoga 
County, N. Y. Would York Imperial be a 
profitable apple here? Baldwin and R. 1. 
Greening succeed well here. 2. What is 
the average life of profitable bearing with 
first-class care for the Red June, Abund¬ 
ance, Arch Duke, Fellenburg and Monarch 
Japan plums? 3. In hybridizing, is the 
Individual fruit which is produced from 
this process a hybrid, and will it show all 
the characteristics of the fruit which 
would be produced from its own seed, or 
do we get results only from the seed of 
crossed specimens? 4. What makes my 
Montmorency cherry trees, now four years 
old, crack lengthwise, excepting the very 
thin outside bark, which partially covers 
the opening? 
Ans. —1. I think that both Sutton and 
Rome Beauty apples will succeed very 
well in the soil and locality described. 
York Imperial would be an experiment 
there, but I believe it is woiThy of trial. 
As yet we do not know just how far 
north this variety will prove profitable, 
but I am inclined to believe mat it will 
do reasonably well wherever the Bald¬ 
win and Rhode Island Greening fiour- 
ish. 2. There has not been sufficient ex¬ 
perience up to date with any of the 
Japan plums to enable us positively to 
know their age of profitabie bearing, 
but indications point to their not being 
equal in this respect to the European or 
American varieties. They seem to begin 
to bear at a very early age, and are 
usually so productive that they exhaust 
themselves. I am inclined to the belief 
that 10 or 15 years is about their limit. 
Archduke, Fellenburg and Monarch are 
all of the European species. There are 
now profitable orchards of Fellenburg 
that have been profitable for as much 
as 20 years, and while the other two 
just mentioned are newer varieties it is 
probable that they will do as well. 3. 
This question brings up the old con¬ 
tested point of the immediate effects of 
pollenization upon fruits of various 
kinds. Many have contended that they 
have seen fruits changed in character 
by having been pollinated by other va¬ 
rieties, but, upon close questioning in 
almost every instance, this has either 
been disproved or made exceedingly 
doubtful. There have been several ser¬ 
ies of carefully-conducted experiments 
for the special purpose of thoroughly 
putting this to a test, and in every in¬ 
stance so far as I know they have failed 
to prove it correctly. For instance, as 
in the case of the fiowers of the Bartlett 
pear having been pollenized oy the pol¬ 
len of the Seckel and numerous other 
varieties, the particular characteristics 
of the othei’S have not appeared in or 
upon the fruit of the Bartlett, but the 
seeds have been materially affected, and 
the varieties thus produced have proved 
this to be true. The effect of polleniza¬ 
tion is upon the seeds and not upon the 
fruit, so far as the transmission of the 
peculiarities of the male parent are con¬ 
cerned. 4. There are a good many com¬ 
plaints from various parts of the coun¬ 
try regarding the body of cherry trees 
being injured, and there is nothing 
strange in the experience with the Mont¬ 
morency mentioned. It seems that the 
violent changes of temperature in the 
Winter time and probably the evapora¬ 
tion of sap, .cause the cracking of the 
trunk, often killing the bark and tender 
wood beneath it, especially on the south 
side of the trunk. In California and 
other places where the climate is quite 
warm, cherry trees fiourish splendidly 
and have very little of this trouble, but 
I have always believed this was due to 
the freedom from violent changes. The 
most trouble in this respect is in the re¬ 
gion of the great plains of tne Prairie 
States, where the ground, and often the 
trees as well, dry out to a very remark¬ 
able degree in Winter time. In New 
York there is no very serious trouble of 
this kind except occasionally. The pre¬ 
ventive measure to be used is thorough 
cultivation, which will enable the tree 
usually to maintain its full vigor. 
H. E. V. D. 
A Grapevine Beetle. 
P. T. B., Nunda, N. Y.—I send you speci¬ 
mens of bug found on grapevine in my 
garden. I found seven of them close to¬ 
gether. but did not observe that they had 
done very much damage to foliage, but 
upon being confined they ate grape leaves 
ravenously. 
Ans. —This grape pest is the large 
beetle known as the Spotted Pelidnota. 
While the beetles sometimes occur in 
considerable numbers on grapevines, 
they rarely do noticeable damage by 
eating the leaves. Usually the few that 
appear can be hand-picked and destroy¬ 
ed. The grub from which this beetle 
transforms, lives in rotten stumps or 
logs, eating only decaying or rotted 
matter. m. v. slingerland. 
Seed-piece Left in Soil. 
K. P., Hartford, Conn.—I dug two hills of 
late-planted potatoes from my garden and, 
although the vines were not dead, was 
much surprised to fiitd the seed pieces 
(one-half of a fair-sized potato) perfectly 
sound. The yield was fair. It seems to 
me rather unusual, and if I have anything 
unique I don’t want to eat them all up 
when some specialist might like to experi¬ 
ment with them. 
Ans. —No, there is nothing very un¬ 
usual about it. We have seen much the 
same thing, particularly where sulphur 
was used on the seed piece. The sul¬ 
phur seems to prevent rotting. What is 
this “seed piece”? One or more “eyes” 
or buds and a portion of the tuber. The 
reason we use anything more than the 
“eye” is that we want to provide food 
for the bud or tiny plant until it can 
send shoots above ground and roots be¬ 
low to absorb food in its natural way— 
from the soil. The starch and other 
matters in the piece of potato feed the 
nursing plant, just as the food in a ker¬ 
nel of wheat or corn will feed the little 
germ until it can care for itself. In a 
good-sized piece of seed potato there is 
more food than the little plant requires, 
and in a favorable season the plant will 
leave most of the seed piece when it be¬ 
gins to feed direct from the soil. We 
have known these rejected seed pieces 
to dry up as hard as a piece of cork, or 
where sulphur is used, to remain in a 
natural condition. 
EI^ERYBODY’S GARDEN. 
Back-Yard Products. —^These, of 
course, must vary according to circum¬ 
stances. All locations will not favor 
fruit growing entirely, whue again 
vegetables or flowers exclusively may 
be objectionable. A fruit tree or grape¬ 
vine planted here or there will often 
utilize and beautify an otherwise un¬ 
sightly or useless spot. The capacities 
of even a small back yard are never 
fully appreciated until thoroughly put 
to the test, and the results of intelligent 
management are often surprising. Care¬ 
ful planting of trees or vines, and 
thoughtful selection as to rotation of 
vegetables and flowers will develop 
prodigious capabilities in even a few 
square feet of space. The picture at Fig. 
313, page 690, shows some of the possi¬ 
bilities of a back yard. 
Storing Winter Vegetables. —At 
this season of the year it is necessary 
to provide for the storage of such vege¬ 
tables as are to be sold through the 
Winter, or held over until Spring. The 
later market prices are nearly always 
much higher than those obtained in the 
Fall; but to offset this, is the loss by 
natural shrinkage and decay, with add¬ 
ed cost of extra handling. The contin¬ 
gencies of both methods of handling are 
pointed out, leaving each individual to 
adopt whichever plan seems best suited 
to personal surroundings. 
Potatoes, whether stored in cellars 
or pitted should be thoroughly dried 
(but not greened by the sun) before 
storing permanently. If to be pitted, 
high ground should be selected and but 
little, if any, excavating should be done. 
Care must be taken to secure perfect 
drainage. Pile the tubers snugly and 
cover with perfectly dry, bright straw; 
do not use litter or rubbish of any sort, 
but just clean straw; and cover this 
with not less than six to eight inches 
of soil; firming sufficiently to turn any 
rainfall, however heavy, which may 
come. As colder weather approaches a 
second covering, the same as the first, 
may be made, only this time any kind 
of straw, or not too coarse litter may be 
used. Over this a covering of manure 
may be put on, and the crop will be se¬ 
cure from any degree of cold likely to 
occur. 
Cabbage. —The high prices for cab¬ 
bage usually prevailing in the Spring 
are a strong temptation to carry over a 
portion of the crop, notwithstanding 
the usual losses. The principal safe¬ 
guards against loss are dampness (not 
wet), and low temperature, with as lit¬ 
tle change as possible. A satisfactory 
practice is to put two rows together, in¬ 
verting the heads and leaving the ijoots 
on. Cover with six to eight inches of 
soil, making the heap wedge shape; as 
cold weather comes on cover with straw 
or iitter. The heap should be trenched 
at east side to make sure of good drain¬ 
age. Parsnips and salsify for the Spring 
supply should be left standing in the 
rows. Cabbage, turnips and rutabagas 
snould never be stored in the house cel¬ 
lar, as the odors are strong and offen¬ 
sive. All root crops for family use hold 
their freshness and flavor far better by 
putting in loose soil, allowing it to sift 
through as much as possible. Cover 
sufficiently to avoid freezing, with ma¬ 
nure, litter or anything convenient, but 
let the loose soil come directly on to the 
vegetables. j. e. morse. 
Michigan. 
The Wiscon.sin Horticulturist tells the 
following: “In Cooper’s famous novel, 
‘The Spy,’ a man is described as tying his 
horse to a locust. The book was trans¬ 
lated into French, but the translator had 
never heard of a locust tree, and rendered 
the word ‘sauterelle,’ which means grass¬ 
hopper. Feeling that this needed some exj 
planation, he appended a foot-note, ex¬ 
plaining that grasshoppers grew to a gi¬ 
gantic size in the United States, and that 
it was the custom to place a stuffed speci¬ 
men at the door of every considerable 
mansion for the convenience of visitors, 
who hitched their horses to it.’’ 
The Cold commonly described as “ deep-seated,'’ 
with pain and soreness In the breast, difficulty of 
breathing, and all that, yields quickly to Dr. D. 
Jayne's Expectorant.—Adr. 
When you write advertisers mention The 
R. N.-Y. and you will get a quick reply and 
“asquare deal.’’ See our guarantee 8th page. 
NURSING MOTHERS 
want Scott’s emulsion of cod- 
liver oil, almost without ex¬ 
ception. So before they get 
to be mothers, eating for two 
is no small tax, continued for 
months. 
The emulsion not only is 
food itself; it gives strength 
for digesting usual food. 
If the milk is scanty or poor, 
the emulsion increases supply 
and enriches quality. 
We'll send you a little to try if you like. 
SCOTT & BOWNE, 409 Pearl street. New York. 
Cider Machinery.—Send for catalogue to Boomer A 
Boschert Press Co., 118 West Water St..Syracuse,N.Y. 
I^DAUCC New Early Yellow DCttnll 
UlinfEd FREESTONE rCnUII 
Price list free. W. J. GRAVES, Originator, Perry, O. 
?—No more of them. Sow 
"lllUIl OCL9 • my hardy White Onion. 
Pound, $8; ounce, 25 cents; package, 10 cents. Send 
for testimonials. BEaDLIKD, Woodhaven, N. V. 
P C Cn WU I- ^ Mediterranean; very 
uLLU IiIILMI hardy. Heavy yielder. 40 bush¬ 
els per acre, thrashers’ measure. Clean seed, 90 cents 
per bushel. I. H. PERKINS, Dover, Del. 
Oa«h-'. 4.11 who are fond of sweet 
9W6vI UClin corn, and would like to grow 
it In their garden next year, will do well to send to 
O. P. ORDWAY, Saxonvllle, Mass., for his circular 
In regard to the best variety. 
Sow Jones 
Longberrv No. I. 
A heavy crop can be grown from late 
sowing of this sort. Almost fly-proof. 
$2 per bushel. Send to Originator, 
A. N. Jones, Newark, Wayne Co.,N.Y. 
The Chicago, Milwaukee and 
St. Paul Railway. 
Many people unacquainted with the 
geography of the West imagine that 
because the names “Chicago, Milwaukee 
and St. Paul” are use in the corporate 
title of the railway owning the Short 
Line between Chicago and Omaha, they 
mu.st go via-the cities of Milwaukee St. 
Paul to reach their destination—and if it 
be Omaha or west thereof. This is a 
mistaken idea. On a map the line run¬ 
ning directly east and west would looked 
liked this: 
Omaha-Chicago. 
There is nothing more simple than 
that, and it is less than 500 miles be¬ 
tween Chicago and Omaha. Two through 
trains daily in each direction with the 
best Sleeping Car and Dining Car Service, 
and all regular travelers know and 
appreciate the merits of the Chicago, 
Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway’s Short 
Line between the East and the West. 
Time tables, maps and information 
furnished on application to F. A. Miller, 
General Passenger Agent, Chicago— Adv. 
The New Horticulture 
BY H. M. STRINCF'ELLOW, 
We do not hesitate to say that this is one of the most 
interesting books on horticulture that ever was printed. 
Most reading farmers have heard of the now famous 
“Stringfellow Method” of planting trees, but few 
understand clearly what it is. This book tells the whole 
story in clear-cut, forcible style, which all can under¬ 
stand. Not only is the theory of close root-pruning 
carefully explained, but the general principles of garden¬ 
ing and fruit-growing are discussed. Mr. Stringfellow 
is a practical gardener, and he gives his own experience. 
We commend the book to all without reserve. New 
Edition, paper covers, 50 cents. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, New York. 
