256 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
March 25, 
Pluralisms 
rT T TTT T TT T T T > 
NOTES FROM THE RURAL GROUNDS 
Seedless Fruits. —On another page 
will be found description and illustrations 
in natural size of Spencer Seedless ap¬ 
ple, now much exploited in the public 
press. The wide publicity given the 
Spencer apple in newspapers and period¬ 
icals bring to mind that seedless apples 
have been known from the earliest times, 
and have always been regarded as mere 
freaks, quite destitute of value as edible 
fruits. It appears that the quality of 
these freaks has always been too low to 
compete with esteemed varieties in culti¬ 
vation at the time. The Spencer apple 
does not seem to be an exception to 
this rule, though it may be the best of 
its class. If one cares to plant it as a cur¬ 
iosity no disappointment may follow, but 
there appears little foundation on which 
to build expectations of commercial value. 
There are many seedless varieties of the 
various cultivated fruits, some of which 
have long been accepted as the standard 
of quality, but as a rule they do not 
bear comparison with normal seed-bear¬ 
ing fruits of the same group. It may be 
interesting to consider some of the best 
known seedless varieties. 
Seedless Oranges. —The Citrus fruits 
have been long cultivated, and many odd 
monstrosities have been developed, few 
of which have any real value. Among 
these are seedless lemons, oranges and 
pomelos. The Washington Navel orange, 
however, has become an important com¬ 
mercial variety, being grown most ex¬ 
tensively in California. It is large, hand¬ 
some, seedless, and a good keeper. The 
quality is agreeable, but not high, and in 
eastern markets it suffers in compari¬ 
son with many richly-flavored seed-bear¬ 
ing varieties from Florida, the West 
Indies and Mediterranean countries. 
When really good oranges of the ordi¬ 
nary type can be had, seedless navels are 
scarcely salable. This variety has a ten¬ 
dency to ripen up its fruits in all stages 
of growth, while seed-bearing kinds must 
reach maturity before they color. Large, 
fully developed navels are quite palatable, 
but the undersized fruits are mighty poor 
eating. The Washington Navel sometimes 
produces seeds when the blooms are pol¬ 
lenized with other varieties, and attempts 
to breed better quality kinds of the seed¬ 
less type have long been under way. No 
marked success has yet been announced. 
The Lincoln Coreless Pear. —This 
much-boomed pear, practically seedless, 
but not coreless, inasmuch as it retains 
the carpels like the Spencer apple, is of 
wretched quality, and is not considered 
worthy of cultivation by some who have 
fruited it. Certain fine pears, the An¬ 
jou, for instance, have few seeds, and 
are better for their comparative absence, 
but the good really seedless pear is not 
yet in sight. 
Seedless Forcing Cucumbers. —The 
forcing or frame cucumbers, grown so 
extensively in Northern Europe, are 
seedless unless pollenized from staminate 
blooms from the same or other varieties. 
The pistillate blooms develoo into im¬ 
mense cucumbers of good quality without 
contact with pollen of any kind. If seeds 
are wanted the blooms are carefully pol¬ 
lenized by hand. The texture of the 
seedless fruits is crisp, and the flavor very 
tolerable, but many think the pollinated 
fruits containing young seeds when taken 
at the proper stage are better. Dilute hy¬ 
brids of Telegraph or other frame cu¬ 
cumber and While Spine—a profuse seed- 
bearer—are unsurpassed in quality. These 
hybrids do not usually produce well- 
formed fruits unless pollenized and de¬ 
veloping seeds. 
Grapes Without Seeds. —There are 
doubtless many seedless grapes, but Sul¬ 
tana, Thompson Seedless and the Zante 
or Currant grape only are of commercial 
importance. All are varieties of the 
Syrian grape, Vitis vinifera, and are 
grown almost exclusively for raisins. The 
Currant grape is one of the oldest raisin 
grapes known, being described by Pliny 
in the year 75 of our Christian era. The 
bunches and berries are very small, the 
latter being so closely packed as to look 
like kernels of corn on a cob. The 
flavor of the fresh grape is said to be 
sweet and rich. The little seedless raisins 
known in commerce as Zante or Greek 
currants are sweet and have a peculiar 
quality, different from all other raisins. 
They are familiar in every household. The 
Sultana grape is used for light-colored 
or silvery seedless raisins, small in size, 
acid and rather low in quality. Thomp¬ 
son Seedless makes raisins of quite simi¬ 
lar in appearance, but somewhat sweeter 
and more agreeable in flavor. The. raisins 
produced by the seedless varieties de¬ 
scribed are only used for cooking. Fine 
dessert and eating raisins are all pro¬ 
duced by the seed-bearing Muscats and 
closely allied Hungarian varieties. It 
seems desirable to reduce the number of 
seeds in our excellent native grapes, if 
that is possible, but it is to be feared that 
if seeds are eliminated quality will fall 
off as with seedless Vinifera varieties. 
The Bar-le-Duc Currant. —A variety 
of white currant containing only one or 
two seeds to the berry is grown in the 
vicinity of Bar-le-Duc, a town in North¬ 
western France that has become a center 
for the manufacture of fine fruit con¬ 
serves. This currant is claimed to have a 
better flavor for preserving uses than the 
ordinary seedy kinds. The Bar-le-Duc cur¬ 
rant preparations are exceptionally dainty, 
but give the impression that gooseber¬ 
ries, raspberries and other fruits are com¬ 
bined with the currants to give special fla¬ 
vors. The Bar-le-Duc white currant is 
said to be a good grower and very pro¬ 
lific. It is offered in this country by 
one nursery firm, at least, and should be 
worth a trial. We can spare some seeds 
from most of our bush fruits if the 
quality is not lessened. The currant 
mentioned is a variety of true bush gar¬ 
den currant, Ribes rubrum, and not the 
Currant grape. 
Bananas and Pineapples. —In their 
present long-cultivated state these im¬ 
portant tropical fruits are seedless. Both 
increase rapidly under natural condi¬ 
tions by suckers and offsets. Seeds are 
not at all necessary for reproduction. 
Seeds are occasionally found in pineap¬ 
ples grown near wild plants having per¬ 
fect or pollen-bearing blooms, and pine¬ 
apple seeds are quite easily produced for 
breeding purposes by artificial polleniza- 
tion. The edible banana seems never to 
produce perfect seeds, though traces of 
seed germs may easily be found in the 
ripe fruits. We do not know what the 
quality of this important and delicious 
fruit would be if seeds were commonly 
present. Bananas certainly are good 
enough as we now get them. The writer 
has gathered and eaten the wild or prim¬ 
itive pineapple in the forests of Brazil. 
Although the fruits when peeled were 
scarcely larger than a good-sized straw¬ 
berry, they were ricn and delicious in 
fl..or, though too sharply acid. These 
wild fruits contained a number of brown 
seeds about half the size of an apple 
seed. The Florida Experiment Station 
reports the wild pineapple as grown in 
that State as small, coarse and sour. It 
is not native to Florida. 
Seedless Figs. —The fig "fruit” is pe¬ 
culiar in that it is really a fleshy hollow 
branch or flower stem. The true fruits 
are what we regard as seeds. The edible 
portion is the fleshy wall and the trans¬ 
formed remains of the innumerable little 
flowers contained within, each of which 
should produce a seed or real fruit. 
Many figs have imperfect blooms, and 
cannot develop seeds unless pollen from 
male or staminate blooms, borne on other 
trees, is introduced through the small 
opening at the free end of the young fig 
at the proper time. This naturally occurs 
by the aid of the Blastophaga, a small 
wasp-like insect that develops m the 
bloom of the male or Capri fig. When 
covered with pollen the Blastophaga 
crawls into the young figs of the pistillate 
varieties in search of nectar, and thus 
fertilizes the receptive blooms. Pollin¬ 
ation is sometimes performed artificially 
bv blowing dry pollen from Capri fies 
through a tube to the interior of the de¬ 
sired varieties. The result of thorough 
pollination is always a great increase in 
size and a most marked improvement in 
quality, as compared with figs that have 
received little pollen and have few or 
no seeds. Seedless figs are always of 
poor flavor, and in many instances scarce¬ 
ly edible. Such varieties are little es¬ 
teemed where normal ones can be had. 
While a reduction of seediness in many 
fruits might be advantageous, this brief 
review seems to show that the elimination 
of seeds in most cases is accompanied 
by lowered quality. It appears fruit 
breeders may more profitably seek im¬ 
provement in other directions, w. v. F. 
still leads all others. Sows all Clovers, Alfalfa, Timothy, 
Rod Top, all Linds of Crass Seods, Flax, etc. Special hop¬ 
per for Crain. Sows 20 to 40 acres per day. Hopper being 
close to the ground the wind can not blow the seed away. 
Used thirty years. 200 thousand sold. Catalogue free. 
0. E. THOMPSON & SONS, YPSILANTI, MICHIGAN. 
FRFF NITRflRFN Why waste money on 
I nLL 111 I nUULIli commercial fertilizers? 
Air is four-fifths nitrogen. IjET JiA CTEHIA 
GA2’11KIt IT FOM YOU! Inoculate your soil 
and seed with Nitrogen Fixing Bacteria. 
Safe and easy—anyone can do it. Used on alfalfa, 
clover, peas, sweet peas, cow peas, beans, et ’. One 
treatment lasts for years 1 Half acre package $1; 
one acre 81.50. 
Vermont Soil Inoculation and Seed Co. 
43 Colchester Avenue, Burlington, Vt. 
USE NITRO-CULTURES.VZUr’S.E,'! 
Culture Is a natural plant food, gathering germs 
among plant roots, nourishes, invigorates, feeds the 
plants, doubles the yield, makes poor soil rich. Free 
Catalogue. 
ARTHUR J. COLLINS, Moorestown, N. J. 
U. S. STANDARD. CAUSTIC POTASH 
WHALE-OiL SO A T*. 
A positive destroyer of San Jose Scale. The OWEN 
^PRAYINfi QPAR for Power Sprayers. OtherOr- 
01 ns I mu or«n, Chard Necessities. Write for 
catalogue and prices. W.H. OWEN, Port Clinton,O. 
Four Row 
'Potato Sprayer 
I Covers 30 to 40 aores per day. 
Straddles 2rows, sprays 4 at 
a time. Wheels adjust for dif¬ 
ferent widths. Sprays toauy 
fineness, and gearing of pump to wheel of cart gives any 
pressure desired. Automatic agitator and suction strainer 
cleaner. It never spoils foliage or clogs. Free instruction and 
formula book shows the famous Garfield, Umpire King, 
Orchard Monarch and other sprayers. Write for it. 
F ield Force Pump Co., 2 11th St, Elmira, N. Y, 
AUTO-POP, 
AUTO-SPRAY. | 
Great cleaning attachment on per- 
fect compressed air sprayer. Note 
how easy—cleans nozzle every time 
used, saves half the mixture. Brass 
pump, 4 gal. tank. 12piungerstrokes 
compresses air to spray W acre. We manu¬ 
facture the largest line in America of high 
grade hand and power sprayers. Catalog free. 
Write us If you want agency. 
E. C. BROWN & CO., 
268 State St., Rochester, N« Y. 
% 
% 
Brass Sprayers Last Longest 
And Are The Cheapest To Buy. 
Price $3.fi0 and upward. Make your labor and invest¬ 
ment earn a good profit by destroying the insect pestsand 
plant diseases which cause so much loss. These sprayers 
may also be used for applying whitewash and cold water 
paints, spreading disinfectants, cleaning wagons, curing 
surface diseases on cattle, chickens, and many other 
purposes. Sprayer* may be returned at our expense If 
they are found defective. Send for catalogue. 
DAYTON SUPPLY CO., Dayton. Ohio. 
SPRAYERS 
Barne, Pump Line. Single and 
double acting. High- 
grade Iron and brans, 
bucket, Knapsaek, Barrel',. 
Pumps, Nozzles and Aeeeaaorlea. 
parts in contact with 
-•.-Id are brass. Best and ,, 
the most complete lino made. 
Write today for free catalogue. 
THE BARNES MFC. CO., Mansfield, i 
W ey’s Sprayers 
is Pumps. Guaranteed strongest and 
best 4 and 6 gal. Compressed Air Sprayers on 
market. Spray 25 ft. trees, potatoes, vines, etc. 
Tested 60lbs. pressure, 2safety valves. In 2 sizes. 
4 or 6 Cal. Calv. 85. 4 Cal. Copper, 87. 
6 Cal. Copper, 98.00. 
Catalog of Idstyles free. Mail orders direct. 
RIPPLEY HOW. CO., Mfrs., Box 223, Grafton, III. 
Henry F. Mitchell Co., Phil*. Pa., Eastern Agents. 
SAL1MENE 
KILLS SAN JOSE SCALE 
Write for circulars and testimonials. 
DRY OR LIQUID FO RM. 
Monmouth Chemical Works. Shrewsbury, N. J. 
Around the World 
“I have used your Fish 
Brand Slickers for years 
In the Hawaiian Islands 
and found them the only 
article that suited. I am 
now In this coun try 
(Africa) and think a great 
deal of your coats." 
(name on application) 
HIGHEST AWARD WORLD’S FAIR, 1904. 
The world-wide reputa- _ 
tlon of Tower’s Water- *» 
proof Oiled Clothing \ 
assures the buyer of 3. 
the positive worth of •" r _ 
all garments bearing ...ufk f 
this Sign of the Fish. 4> ft 
A. J. TOWER CO., Boston, U. S. A. 
TOWER CANADIAN CO., LIMITED, 
353 Toronto, Canada. 
CORN FIELDS 
ARE GOLD FIELDS 
to the farmer who under¬ 
stands how to feed his 
crops. Fertilizers for Corn 
must contain at least 7 
per cent, actual 
Potash 
Send for our books—they 
tell why Potash is as necessary 
to plant life as sun and rain; 
sent free, if you ask. Write 
to-dav. 
GERMAN KALI WORKS 
93 Nassau Street, New York. 
CQoi 
INDRUROID 
•ROOFING 
Requires no Coating or 
Paint. 
Acid and Alkali Proof. 
Elastic and Pliable 
Always. 
Strong and Tough. 
Absolutely Water Proof. 
Climatic Changes I)o Not 
Affect It. 
Practically Fire Proof. 
Can He Used on Steep or 
Flat Surfaces. 
Any Workman Can l»ut 
It On. 
No Odor. 
Will Not Shrink or Crack. 
Right iu Weight. 
Does Not Taint Water. 
Write for samples, prices and 
circulars. 
H. F. WATSON CO. 
ERIE. PA. 
Chicago, Boston. 
Mention R. N.-Y. 
IT IS 
LOADED 
itb 
AGENTS 
ED 
MEND-A-RIP' 
kinds of Light and Heavy Stitching 
Does ell kinds 
light and 
heavy riveting 
Save the Pricb or Itself 
Many Times a Year. A PerfeO^ 
Hand Sewing Machine and Riveter combined 
To Show It Moans a Sale. Agents 
make from $8 to 1^15 a day, Ona 
made 920 first day and writes So hurry 
to him. Write for special agents’ prioe. 
Foundry Co., Fredericktown, O. 
Great Agents Supply House. 
MACHINERY 
B ide 
Bent and cheapest. 
Send for catalogue, 
BOOMER & BOSCHERT 
PRESS CO., 
118 Went Water St., 
filBACl’SK, tf. Y. 
Hardie 
Spray Pumps 
are the fruit growers best | 
protection against all In-1 
sects and diseases which ! 
attack fruit trees. The 
Hardie Spray Pump is the 
simplest, strongest, most I 
durable and highest pres -1 
sure spray pump made 
and "It works so easy."i 
Send today for our free 1 
book on Spraying giving I 
all the best formulas and [ 
Information about how the successful fruit 
growers make big money. Just a request on a I 
postal will bring this valuable book. 
HOOK-HARDIE CO. 
X11 mechanic mr. HUDSON, MICH. 
Pear affected by the San 
Joae Scale which annual¬ 
ly destroy, 430,000,000 
worth of fruit. 
THE PERFECTION SPRAYER 
combines hand and horse power, and has both cart 
and barrel. It’s simple, reliable, practical and dura¬ 
ble. Sprays everything; trees,potatoes, vines. Cata¬ 
logue. telling how to spray, and containing valuable 
formulas, FREE. 
THOMAS PEPPLER, Box 45, Hightstown, N. J. 
“Black 
Diamond 99 
FERTILIZERS 
There is always a rush in the Fertilizer Business during' March and April 
Order early and avoid it. 
THE ROGERS & HUBBARD CO-, 
Middletown, Connecticut. 
