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THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
July 29, 
j Ruralisms • 
NOTES FROM THE RURALGROUNDS 
Early Japan Plums. —The first seed¬ 
ling Japan plums of this year, shown 
natural size in Figs. 241 and 242, were 
received June 29 in good eating condition. 
The quality was much better than Cali¬ 
fornia plums bought the same day. Both 
varieties are clings, dark red and yellow 
in color, with firm yellow flesh of pleas¬ 
ant flavor. The originator, J. W. Trin- 
kle, Madison, Ind., writes under date of 
June 27: 
I send to-day two varieties of my earliest 
(Prunus triflora) plums, more on account of 
their earliness than any other quality, being 
about live or six days earlier than the Red 
June here, though I think they compare fav¬ 
orably with that variety in other respects. 
They are not so large as they were last year. 
The trees stand in the trial row with many 
other trees near them, and besides are over¬ 
loaded. The one with the flat apex last year 
calipered 1% by 1 inch in diameter and 
is the earliest. When it commences ripening 
i( ripens the whole crop in about three days. 
It was ripe last year July <>. This year it 
ripened June 24. The other variety with the 
pointed apex is only one or two days later 
than the above. It is of fine quality, line 
color and hung on the tree last year until a 
storm blew them off, which was about 12 
days after they were ripe. They were coal 
black. Some of them were almost as dry as 
dried prunes. It calipered 1 Vi inch in both 
diameters last year. Those I send you were 
picked a little green, that they might not be 
overripe when they reach you. 
These plums were better than Red June 
as we generally get that variety. Other 
early Japans, raised in New York and 
Georgia, have been figured in The R. 
N.-Y., pages 574 and 683, 1904. The first 
of our home-grown seedlings, a cross 
between Chabot and AbundancQ gives us 
ripe fruits as early as July 8. This ten¬ 
dency of seedlings to ripen earlier than 
their parents will probably be of the 
highest value if this interesting type is to 
remain in cultivation in the East. Early- 
ripening plums escape curculio and rot to 
a considerable degree, and, what is also 
of the first importance to the commercial 
grower, they come in before the market 
is overstocked with the California pro¬ 
duct. Burbank’s First ripens here about 
July 15. It is of good quality but small, 
and so far a shy bearer, the tree appar¬ 
ently being tender in bud. 
Japan Plums Not Generally Suc¬ 
cessful. —Japan plums in general, have 
only borne two fair crops for us in six 
years. Most varieties introduced with 
such a flourish of trumpets have failed 
either in tree or fruit. The only ones 
we care to plant from our present ex¬ 
perience are Ogon and Chabot. Hopes 
are still entertained of Normand, a stocky 
growing yellow-fruited kind, but it has 
not yet given us a full crop. Among the 
many hybrid Japans tested we can only 
commend America, Sultan and Shiro. 
Gonzales is very promising, but our tree 
is yet too young for full cropping. The 
typical Japan plum, as received from the 
Orient, is little better than a tree-weed, 
quick growing, early bearing, brittle in 
wood, susceptible to many pests and dis¬ 
eases, and, in short, generally short-lived 
and unsatisfactory. The seedlings raised 
under our climatic conditions, whether 
self-pollenized or cross-bred with other 
species and varieties, arc often highly 
satisfactory, and some great improve¬ 
ments are likely to he developed. The old 
varieties must disappear, as no longer 
worth planting, as new ones, better adap¬ 
ted for our uses, take their place. There 
is little doubt that the Oriental plum, 
Prunus triflora, will be recognized as 
a really important addition to our fruits 
only after it has been remodeled by a 
long course of seedling regeneration and 
intercrossing with our native kinds. There 
is much evidence that this work is pro¬ 
ceeding with commendable rapidity. 
The Official Hardy Oranges. —Con¬ 
siderable information, almost too much, 
concerning the hardy orange hybrids de¬ 
veloped by our National Agricultural 
Department has been given out from time 
to time, worked over by up-to-date 
journalists, and published in various 
periodicals, but the first full official ac¬ 
count appears in the lately issued “Year 
Book” of the Department for 1904, writ¬ 
ten by Messrs. Herbert J. Webber and 
Walter T. Swingle, the creators of the 
new fruits under consideration. 
Making a Hardy Orange.— The De¬ 
partment experiments began as long ago 
as 1892, but were interrupted by the 
great freeze of 1894. which not on]y 
destroyed the experimental plants, but 
killed back all established orange groves 
in which the work was carried on. Two 
years later a new start was made, suc¬ 
cessful hybridization effected, and the 
work further carried on through the sea¬ 
sons of 1897, 1S98 and 189.0, until crosses 
enough were made to produce more than 
1,700 seedlings. These were at first 
grown in the Department greenhouses at 
Washington, and later sent to a nursery 
in southern Florida. When of sufficient 
‘size, buds and grafts of promising speci¬ 
mens were established in commercial 
groves in various parts of Florida, and 
also distributed to the Georgia, Alabama 
and other Southern experiment stations. 
Fruits have been borne on a limited 
number of these hybrids for the past 
two years, and two of the most promising 
varieties are now figured in color and 
described under the names respectively 
of Rusk and Willets “citranges.” 
What Is a Citrange? —These fruits 
are the result of hybridization between 
blooms of the common sweet orange and 
a hardy Asiatic member of the orange 
family, commonly known as Citrus tri- 
foliata. Botanists are not agreed 
whether this species, which has deciduous 
EARLY SEEDLING PLUM. Fig. 241. 
instead of evergreen foliage, is really an 
orange or lemon. It has been*given a be¬ 
wildering array, of generic names. The 
authorities of Kew Gardens now call 
it Aegle sepiaria, but it is safe to 
say that nurserymen and fruit grow¬ 
ers, with all respect to the Kew 
botanists, will not pay the slightest 
attention to this decision. The plant 
has shown its affinity to the orange by 
uniting with it and producing new fruits 
intermediate between the parents. The 
Washington breeders wish to distinguish 
their hybrids, which are likely to multiply 
in the near future, by the group name of 
Citrange—a word made up of syllables 
from Citrus and orange, and as the desig 
nation is a handy one it seems likely to 
stick. 
Not So Very Hardy. —The fruit of 
Citrus trifoliata is a hard, fuzzy little 
orange, less than two inches in diameter, 
with many large seeds and a bitter, sour 
and gummy pulp. The tree is dwarf 
and thorny, with divided foliage, falling 
in Autumn like that of an apple or oak. 
It is quite commonly used as a hedge 
plant in the South, and is truly hardy as 
far north as New York. It fruits with 
EARLY SEEDLING PLUM. Fig. 242. 
great freedom on the Rural Grounds, 
not far from Sandy Hook, N. J., and 
does not winterkill, even in freezes sharp 
enough to cut peaches, chestnuts and 
cherries to the ground. The Rusk and 
Willets citranges have endured tempera¬ 
tures at the various experiment stations 
as low as eight and even six degrees 
above zero, though not without some in¬ 
jury and loss. As the ordinary orange 
rarely survives freezing it will be seen 
that varieties that can withstand 24 or 
more degrees of frost are an enormous 
gain, though not altogether what is 
wanted. These fruits can be grown 
many hundred miles north of the present 
Citrus fruit belt, and it is extremely 
probable that far hardier types of edible 
oranges will sooner or later be developed 
from this Trifoliata parentage. 
What are They Good For?— The 
Rusk and Willets Citranges are described 
as handsome, juicy, nearly seedless, little 
oranges, about two inches in diameter, 
having a pleasant flavor, with slight 
aromatic tang from the hardy species, 
but too sour for eating without sugar. 
The uses, if these creations are accepted 
in the markets, will likely be those for 
which lemons and limes are adapted. 
Other Hardy Orange Hybrids. —These 
official Citranges, though not all that 
could be hoped for, are encouraging steps 
for future work. While these useful ex¬ 
periments at public expense were going 
on, private breeders at home and abroad 
have been dabbling in the same line of 
work, with fairly satisfactory results. 
1 he R. N.-Y. published in its issue for 
August 9, 1902, the first authentic ac¬ 
count of a hybrid between Citrus trifo¬ 
liata and the Oonishiu, or Satsmna 
orange, a variety of the Mandarin, Tan¬ 
gerine or “kid-glove” class, with easily 
removable peel. Oonishiu is a prolific 
and well flavored orange, commonly 
grown in the Gulf States, and regarded 
as about the hardiest of the evergreen, 
or broad-leaved oranges, as it will often 
endure a few degrees of frost. The hy¬ 
bridization was effected in 1892 by G. 
Marti. Houston, Texas, but the resulting 
seedlings did not fruit until 1901. Mr. 
Marti describes the fruit as deep yellow 
in color, 2 l / 2 inches in diameter, with 
fine-textured greenish yellow flesh, juicy, 
sweet and agreeable, having only acid 
enough to make a pleasant flavor. The 
tree endured the severe freeze of 1899, 
when the temperature fell to two de¬ 
grees above zero* and may be regarded as 
fairly hardy. Mr. Marti thinks that while 
a hardy tree bearing well-flavored fruits 
can be bred from the Trifoliata orange, 
it is likely to be too late in ripening 
greatly to extend orange culture north¬ 
ward. 
The Montauban Hardy Orange.— A 
recent number of the French Revue Hor- 
ticole contains colored figure and account 
of a hybrid between the cultivated orange 
and “Citrus triptera,” which is but one 
of the many synonyms of C. trifoliata. 
The hybrid was raised by M. Armand 
Bernard, Montauban, France, from seeds 
fertilized in 1894. The first fruits ripened 
in 1903, and are nearly three inches in 
diameter, with a rather thick rind, but 
too dry in flesh to be palatable. The tree 
has endured without harm 12 degrees of 
frost, which would answer to a tempera¬ 
ture of 20 degrees above zero Fahrenheit. 
The leaves of all the hardier hybrids 
raised by above growers are more or less 
three-parted, like those of the trifoliate 
parent. Other seedlings from the same 
artificially pollinated fi uits, Having leaves 
nearly or quite entirely like their tender, 
cultivated orange parent, are all too sen¬ 
sitive to frost to be called “hardy,” even 
in the qualified sense in which that term is 
applied to Citrus fruits. w. v. F. 
Lime Wash For Lice. —You remember say¬ 
ing you should apply the sulphur-lime to your 
henhouses to kill the mites. From our expe¬ 
rience so far this season I am thoroughly con¬ 
vinced that in this new form of lime will he 
found the long-sought-for remedy for these 
pests. It is so quickly prepared and applied, 
and inexpensive: it saves a great deal of 
time and labor, and keeps the houses white 
and sweet, and certainly when this whitewash 
reaches the mites and eggs and dries it leaves 
them covered with an impenetrable coating of 
lime. I would suggest that you ask some of 
the poultrymen to try it and report in The 
R. N. Y. v. e. c. 
Maine. 
Greex Mountain' Grape.- —Why don't you 
have more to say about the good’qualities of 
the Green Mountain grape? I have the Isa¬ 
bella, Diana, Eumelan. Hartford Prolific, 
Concord, Campbell's Early and Green Moun¬ 
tain. The last is worth more than all the 
rest. 1 have had it more than 10 years, and 
it has never failed to get ripe, and is the 
best in quality I ever saw, unless it lie the 
Delaware. The Campbell is good, hut all the 
rest fail to ripen, only occasional berries or 
bunches. Green Mountain is ripe and gone by 
September 10 some years. It is the grape for 
this section because of its earliness. e. g. 
Ashfield, Mass. 
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