7o4 
October 24 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
use it on a bearing tree. It makes too much growth, 
too many leaves, and the fruit lacks color and flavor. 
Potash and phosphoric acid are what the bearing tree 
needs to help form the seed, develop the flesh, color 
the skin and harden the wood. We can get all the 
growth we wish here by cultivation, unless an orchard 
has been neglected, or has been allowed to overbear, 
in which case a crop of peas or Crimson clover will 
restore and furnish all the nitrogen needed, and I 
know the growth is much greater in Georgia than here. 
2 . I would not cultivate in any manner in winter, 
for I think that the soil would be more likely to wash. 
I would trim and clean the orchard, and as soon as 
the buds begin to swell and show signs of blooming, 
plow the ground as quickly as possible. Then harrow 
at least every week or 10 days, till the fruit is half 
grown. Then cease all cultivation, and let all the 
grass grow that will. Winter cultivation would not 
help anything, and might hasten early blooming, so 
the buds would be killed by frost. This would be 
my plan. chas. wright. 
H. E. Van Deman Discusses the Matter. 
1. Clean and long-continued culture surely promotes 
wood growth, because it prevents the escape of 
moisture from the soil. The stoppage of cultivation 
will check wood growth, and hasten the maturity of 
the tree for that season. The practice of allowing 
grass (chiefly Crab grass, in most sections), to grow 
after the trees have made a good growth in the sum¬ 
mer, is all right. Cultivation up to August 1, in 
Georgia, is long enough, but it should be begun and 
be thorough from early spring—about April 1—until 
that time. I can see no benefit in cultivating when 
the tree is not growing, and, if one does his duty to 
the trees, they will have grown sufficiently by Au¬ 
gust 1, if the season has been good. In some parts of 
the country, as in northern Michigan, it is absolutely 
necessary to stop the growth rather early in the fall, 
to prevent a tender growth that will be injured by 
the cold of early winter. Sometimes, heading back 
with the knife is resorted to by the best peach grow¬ 
ers there. In Georgia, this would not be needed. 
Where the autumns are very dry, as in some parts of 
the West, there is no danger of too late a growth, 
and there the continuation of cultivation might be of 
much benefit in retaining the moisture in the soil, 
and thus preventing injury to the trees by the cold of 
winter. I have often had trees there so enfeebled by 
lack of moisture in the latter part of the summer and 
fall, that they went into winter quarters in poor con¬ 
dition, and were unable properly to withstand the 
evaporating influence of the following winter with¬ 
out injury. 
2 . As C. H. S. J. finds washing of the light soil of 
that region one of his troubles, and wishes to prevent 
it, the growth of Crab grass in the fall is just the 
thing. I would leave it on for that reason, if for no 
other. I noticed the good effect of this in the big 
peach orchards at Olden, in southern Missouri, but 
they stopped cultivation too early in the season to 
suit my notion, and I have repeatedly said so to my 
friends who own and manage the Olden Fruit Farm. 
I noticed that Mr. Hale, in the management of his 
peach orchards in Connecticut, did as I have just sug¬ 
gested, and he told me that he does the same in Geor¬ 
gia. In California, I noticed that they had everything 
as clean as a pin in the winter, but they usually con¬ 
trol the growth by irrigation, and have the soil just 
as moist or as dry as they desire. As the autumns are 
dry until the winter rains set in, the trees naturally 
stop growing early. Then, the lands are so level in 
those great valleys, that they do not wash much. I 
can’t see how rye will induce too much growth, 
as it does not gather nitrogen from the air, but clover 
might do it if put in oftener than every other year. 
The same is true of cow peas, which are a very good 
crop for Georgia, in case the soil needs nitrogen. I 
would think it much cheaper to get nitrogen in this 
very cheap way, than to depend on the very expen¬ 
sive method of applying it in commercial fertilizers. 
Put on potash and phosphoric acid by this means, as 
it is absolutely necessary. The soil must have humus, 
and the clover or cow peas will furnish it, and so will 
the Crab grass. But the trees must not be overstimu¬ 
lated by too much nitrogen. 
Virginia. _ 
HOME TRADE IN SOUTHERN TOWNS. 
On page 639, W. T. Simpson, of Pine Bluff, Ark., 
told us that he sells his produce right in his home 
town. Several readers have written to know how he 
developed this trade. Mr. Simpson answers as follows: 
“ I will tell you just how I did with the first cab¬ 
bage that I ever raised for wholesale trade, and that 
will illustrate the idea that I carried out with berries 
and some other crops. Such a thing as selling a crate 
of home-raised cabbage had never been attempted 
here before. Before the cabbage were ready for sale, 
I had some nice crate material sawed out and stacked 
to dry, and when they were ready for market, I 
made new crates of the regular commercial size, and 
packed them full with first-class hard cabbage. I 
loaded up a two-mule wagon with crates piled up 
something as cotton bales are piled on a plantation 
wagon for market. I drove into the city and around 
the main streets of the place, and let the merchants 
have a chance to compare their stale, wilted stock 
with mine fresh cut and packed. Nearly every dealer 
in the city gave me his order for one or two crates. 
Their customers soon found out that there was a big 
difference in the eating qualities of stale and fresh 
cabbage and I did not have any trouble in selling as 
long as I had them. I have frequently raised more 
than would supply this market. I then send a man 
out on all the railroads to nearby towns, and solicit 
trade. After getting a customer I generally keep 
him from year to year, by using the same care to see 
that everything is as good as can be had of its kind.” 
Mr. Simpson stated that he used as fertilizer, cot¬ 
ton-hull ashes and cotton-seed meal. When asked 
whether he had ever used other fertilizer, he said : 
“ Yes, I have used nitrate of soda and several 
brands of complete commercial fertilizers in a small 
way; but they are not kept on sale here, and are 
difficult to obtain unless wanted in car-lots—that is, 
the price is too high in small lots on account of freight 
charges. I have not found any cheaper source of 
potash and phosphoric acid than cotton-hull ashes, 
and they are more satisfactory in every way than 
those plant foods in any other form that I have tried. 
The meal furnishes the most satisfactory source of 
nitrogen, and the cheapest at the same time. Of 
course, here we get meal and ashes from first hands, 
and they are much cheaper than after the railroads 
have handled them. The ashes are worth $23 per ton 
at the mill, and the meal $15 per ton. You can very 
readily see that I am using the cheapest, if not the 
best plant foods obtainable.” 
PLAN! "STIMULANTS”. 
There seems to be a general opinion current among 
farmers that plants can be stimulated in the sense in 
which alcohol, for instance, stimulates the animal 
WORK OF THE GRAPE PHYLLOXERA. Fig. 229. 
system. But a moment’s thought ought to convince 
any one to the contrary, since plants, unlike animals, 
have no nervous system upon which stimulants can 
take effect. Agricultural papers in many parts of the 
country, accept this false notion of plant life ; and 
many of them are now soberly discussing the question 
whether this “stimulation” is not wearing out our 
farms upon which artificial fertilizers are being ex¬ 
tensively applied. I think it is safe to say that this 
evil is entirely imaginary. The fertilizing elements 
of artificial manures are exactly the same in their 
nature and constitution as those in stable manure, or 
in other ordinary substances, such as muck, slaughter¬ 
house waste, sea weed, fish manure, etc., which are 
used in the ordinary way of farming. The only im¬ 
portant difference in the manufactured article is that 
concentrated forms of material are used, and are 
made immediately available by the dissolving action 
of strong mineral acids. 
I have been using artificial fertilizers of various 
brands for 30 years, in my market gardens and on my 
farm in much greater quantity than farmers com¬ 
monly apply—rarely less than a ton per acre, and not 
infrequently much more ; and the only effect notice¬ 
able is a constant improvement. Where I have had 
occasion to seed down portions of my gardens to 
grass, I have always found a fine and enduring fer¬ 
tility which calls the attention of many visitors, who 
think that I am top-dressing those fields heavily. 
There are no reasons why such experiences should 
not be common. There is absolutely no chemical 
difference except in the quantities required, and if a 
farmer had the means to separate the inert matter 
from his stable manure, before using it, he would 
then have almost precisely what he buys in the bags 
or barrels of fertilizer. There is nothing mysterious 
about the matter. A commercial or manufactured 
manure is simply and only a manure from which most 
of the worthless parts have been left out, and those 
which remain have been made quickly soluble by the 
use of a strong mineral acid—sulphuric acid or oil of 
vitriol, being that which is commonly used. 
The only reason why any farmer who uses a com¬ 
mercial fertilizer gets the idea that his land is made 
poorer by fertilizers is, I think, because the free acid 
of the fertilizer acts, to some extent, upon the crude 
phosphatic and other matter which exists naturally 
in all good soils, and makes them so much more avail¬ 
able that the crop gets hold of it at once. It is the 
same as it would be if all the manure of a single sea¬ 
son could be at once utilized by the crop. 
T. H. HOSKINS. 
The Farmers’ Club. 
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see whether it is not answered in our advertising columns. Ask 
only a few questions at one time. Put questions on a separate 
piece of paper-1 
Life History of the Grape Phylloxera. 
L. B. G., Mendota , 111 ..—There appears to be a disease upon my 
own and my neighbors’ Clinton grape vines, which results in 
pretty much defoliating the vines about the time the fruit be¬ 
gins to ripen. The leaves appear to be covered with a knobby 
excrescence which I suppose to be the cause. I inclose specimens, 
and would like to know the cause. 
ANSWERED BY M. V. SLINGERLAND. 
One of the diseased grape leaves is shown at Fig. 
229. The under surface of the leaf bears many curi¬ 
ous globular or cup-shaped galls, of a greenish-red or 
yellow color, with their outer surfaces somewhat un¬ 
even or knobby and slightly woolly. These galls are the 
work of that tiny foe known as the Grape Phylloxera 
(Phylloxera vastatrix). This little plant louse has 
attained much celebrity, and much attention has been 
paid to the study of its life history and habits ; hun¬ 
dreds of memoirs have been published in France re¬ 
garding it. The destruction it has wrought in France 
has been so great as to become a national calamity ; 
and the government, at one time, appointed special 
agents to study it, and offered large sums of money 
as prizes to any one who should discover an efficient 
remedy for the pest. The vineyards in other Euro¬ 
pean countries have, also, suffered severely from the 
insect. It is a native of America, and is common 
throughout the greater part of the United States and 
Canada ; but our native grape vines seem to endure 
its attacks much better than European varieties. The 
insect has always existed on our wild vines, yet it 
was not until it had been introduced abroad, about 
1859, and began to ravage the vineyards of the old 
world, that particular attention was drawn to it as a 
pest, or that anything definite was known of its habits. 
This little foe has a very complicated and interest¬ 
ing life story. It appears in two destructive forms 
on the vine : One produces the galls shown on the 
leaf in the figure, and known as the gall-inhabiting 
form, and the other and more destructive form living 
on the rootlets and called the root-inhabiting form. 
The gall-producing form was first found in New York 
in 1854, and a few years later, the root-inhabiting 
form was discovered in France; several observers 
soon established the fact that the two were forms of 
but one species of plant-louse. 
This year, the insect seems to have been unusually 
abundant in many sections, for we have received both 
the root and leaf forms several times. The galls be¬ 
gin to appear upon the leaves early in June. If a 
fresh gall be opened, it will be found to contain from 
one to four orange-colored lice, from 50 to 400 minute, 
shining, oval, whitish eggs, and, usually, a considerable 
number of young lice, but little larger than the eggs 
and of the same color. Soon the gall becomes over- 
populated, and the surplus lice wander off through 
the partly-opened mouth or door of the gall on the 
upper side of the leaf, and they soon establish them¬ 
selves either on the same leaf or on adjoining young 
leaves as shown at Fig. 229 ; the irritation occasioned 
by their punctures (for they are sucking insects) 
causes the formation of new galls, within which the 
lice remain. After a time, the older lice die, and the 
galls which they have inhabited open out and gradu¬ 
ally become flattened and almost obliterated ; hence 
it may happen that the galls on the older leaves on a 
vine will be empty, while those on the younger ones 
are swarming with occupants. 
The galls are often very common on the Clinton 
grape and other varieties of the same type, and are, 
also, found to a greater or less extent on most culti¬ 
vated sorts. The abundance of galls on the leaves 
is not an indication of the presence of the root-inhab¬ 
iting form in destructive numbers, but, in fact, the 
reverse of this is usually true ; while, on the other 
hand, the destructive abundance of the lice on the 
roots is, usually, accompanied by little appearance of 
the leaf galls. The Clinton grape, aDd certain other 
varieties, are most resistant to the root form, but are 
especially subject to the leaf form. There are several 
generations of the lice on the leaves daring the sea- 
