1906. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
653 
"SEEDLESS " APPlE NOTES . 
After all that is really known and that which has been 
said about “seedless” apples in the rural press for sev¬ 
eral years past, it seems strange to me, and may be se 
to others, that still more is called for on the subject. 
So-called “bloomless, seedless and coreless” apples have 
been known and described in print for many years past, 
but nothing good has ever been known of any of them. 
My own first personal knowledge of any of the varieties 
was soon after I became the Pomologist of the U. S. 
Department of Agriculture. In the annual report of that 
Department for 1888 (I think it was), I published an il¬ 
lustrated notice of a worthless variety that was growing 
near Flag Pond, Virginia. The man who had the tree 
did not try to push the variety after we had correspond¬ 
ed about it, and I had given warning to the public of its 
worthless character. 
From the time of the quiet dropping of the Virginia 
variety I saw and heard almost nothing of seedless 
apples until the booming of the variety said 
to have been originated by J. F. Spencer, of 
Colorado, began. I received and now have the circulars 
that came from the promoters of the scheme to sell the 
trees and some of the evidently inspired newspaper puffs 
about it. They would at once disgust any well-posted 
fruit grower, but, probably, attracted and favorably im¬ 
pressed many of the unwary. At the St. Louis Exposi¬ 
tion, in October, 1904, I saw specimens of this apple in 
the Colorado exhibit, and asked the privilege of the at¬ 
tendants to inspect them, b :t they were locked in a 
glass case, and I was not permitted to do so. I at once 
thought I recognized in them the old apple from Vir¬ 
ginia, for the shape, size and color were practically the 
same, except for the higher color that is given by the 
climate of Colorado to all apples. Flowever, I am not 
certain that they are the same. The Winter following 
I was given a chance to handle, taste and otherwise in¬ 
spect samples of the variety at the Department of Agri¬ 
culture in Washington, D. C., for the officials told me 
they were genuine, and had come from the Spencer peo¬ 
ple. There was a core in every one I saw cut, but almost 
no seeds; the size small; color, dull, greenish red; the 
quality poor 
Last year, 1905, when I was judging the fruits at the 
Lewis and Clark Exposition at Portland. Oregon, an old 
gentleman, Mr. Charles Waters, of White Salmon, 
Washington, came to me with some specimens of what 
he called a “Seedless” apple. They were only about half 
grown, he said, as the time when he first came to me 
was during the Summer. As he was at the Exposition 
several days that trip we had repeated conversations 
about this apple and other fruits, for he was an old pio¬ 
neer nurseryman from Wisconsin, and a very interesting 
man, and had a good memory, although he was then 85 
years old. He said that when he was living in Wiscon¬ 
sin, some 40 years ago, he read in the New York Tribune 
of a Seedless apple growing in Virginia, and procured 
scions of it, from which he grew many nursery trees. 
Some of these he planted in his orchard there and others 
he sold, but only to a few people for trial. A cold Win¬ 
ter killed down most of the trees in both orchards and 
nursery, but not all of them below the grafts. The or¬ 
chard trees had not then borne fruit and he therefore 
could not judge it. Soon after that time he moved to 
the Pacific Coast and took along some of the scions. 
From these he grew trees in a nursery at The Dalles, 
Oregon, and also planted some on his farm at White 
Salmon, Washington, which is across the Columbia 
River, and not far from Tbe Dalles, being immediately 
opposite Hood River. Th? trees grew well, but before 
they fruited he went to Grand Junction, Colorado, and 
took with him some small trees of this same so-called 
“Seedless” apple and gave them to J. F. Spencer, who 
is his brother-in-law. That is, I fully believe, where and 
how Spencer got the stock of the apple he and others 
have since been booming, and not by any mysterious 
process of origination, as he has positively claimed, ac¬ 
cording to the public press and the circulars of his com¬ 
pany; at least, this would seem evident to any reason¬ 
able mind. If not, what did he do with the trees that 
Mr. Waters gave him? That part of the evidence is cir¬ 
cumstantial, but perfectly satisfactory to me in this case. 
I took Mr. Waters to my stenographer and had him 
make a complete historical statement of his entire con¬ 
nection with this “Seedless” apple business up to last 
year. He said that when the trees bore at White Salmon 
the apples were so small, unattractive, tough in flesh and 
poor in flavor, “poorer than Ben Davis,” to use his own 
words, that most of the trees were top-grafted to some¬ 
thing better. Mr. Waters told me that he would send 
me fruit from the trees at White Salmon when it got 
ripe in the Fall, and this he did. and it was some of these 
specimens that I cut in the presence of Mr. F. Walden, 
of Yakima County, Washington, and others, in the ex¬ 
position building of that State at Portland, Oregon, last 
October, and about which Mr. Walden made editorial 
comment in The Ranch soon after. The second speci¬ 
men I then cut had a well-developed Codling moth larva 
in it, yet there were and had been no seeds for it to have 
fed upon; which has been claimed by some to be neces¬ 
sary for the development _of the worm. I have never 
known an apple worm to crawl out of the fruit until 
it had done its full work, and this one certainly had not. 
They do not feed on the seeds, except rarely. I have 
cut other wormy apples of this variety. All of them had 
distinct but internally closed cores, and now and then a 
seed was found. I kept a part of this lot of apples sent 
me by Mr. Waters until the close of the exposition, and 
now and then tested one. They were small, green, with 
a dull reddish overcolor; dry and tough in flesh and of 
very poor tartish flavor. 1 hey looked and tasted the 
same as the specimens from the Spencer people that I 
previously tested in Washington, D. C. I pronounce 
them identical in variety and would do so if I knew 
nothing of the fact that Mr. Waters gave trees to J. F. 
Spencer. 
The sum and substance of this whole affair is about 
like this: There is a company vigorously pushing the 
sale of a variety of apple that from my observation 
seems worthless, except it might be for cider, and it is 
not really needed for that purpose. They have made 
claims for it that are not borne out by the facts. It is 
neither coreless, seedless nor wormless.' The price they 
ask for the trees, $2 each, is enormous, being more 
than 10 times that of really good apple trees. The 
public ought to know the facts in the case, and that is 
why those of us who know some of them should tell 
them. What I have here told is a part of what I know 
about this matter and have documentary evidence to 
prove. There are other nominally “Seedless” apples 
besides the one under discussion, none of which, so far 
as I know, is of any practical value. 
H. E. VAN DEM AN. 
EVENTS OF THE WEEK. 
DOMESTIC—The London Times' insurance expert figures 
that tlie British insurance companies, including the sub- 
sidiary American companies owned by them, lost $45,000,- 
noo by the San Francisco disaster. ... In prosecuting 
his war against adulterants Dairy and Food Commissioner 
Warren of Philadelphia descended upon candy manufacturers 
ana dealers August 9. Twenty warrants were served upon 
them, charging them with adulterating their products with 
sulphites and other poisonous ingredients. The Standard 
Oil Company, through one of its subsidiary compan.es. will 
he one of the defendants. It owns and controls the Glucose 
I rust, the Philadelphia agent of which is one of the de¬ 
fendants. Ail the warrants were issued upon information 
furnished by Special Agent Ilarry P. Cassidy, of the Dairy 
and Food Commission. The specific charges against the 
men. ' V1 11 he adulterating their candy products with sulphur 
dioxid, paraffin, coal tar and dyes. Doctor Warren, who 
will attend the hearing, has issued instructions that no 
fines he accepted by way of compromise. lie will insist 
that each defendant he held for court. ... In the 
City Court at Vicksburg,- Miss., August 8, Swift & Co. 
were fined S100 on a charge of selling meat unfit for food. 
Judge Dickson, after imposing the fine, agreed to hold up 
the sentence until the arrival of officers of the company. 
Gov. Folk, of Missouri, will ask the next General 
Assembly to pass a law by which the retail liquor interests 
will be taxed for the benefit of the public highways. He 
plans to have each saloon pay a State license of $2,000 a 
year, the fund created to be used to build good roads, be¬ 
ginning with two great free higlnvavs across the State, one 
from Kansas City to St. Louis, the other one from Iowa to 
the Arkansas line. . . . Frank Kowalski, for five years 
the paying teller of the Milwaukee Avenue State Bank, 
Chicago, which failed August 6, shot and killed himself 
August 9. No charges had been brought against him in 
connection with the failure of the hank, hut it is believed 
that the criticisms of his neighbors and friends drove him 
to kill himself. In examination of the tank’s accounts, 
forged notes aggregating more than $500.0nn were found, 
and from statements made by Cashier Ilering regarding 
the loans made by Stensland. president of the bank, to him¬ 
self, and the shortages found during previous investigations, 
it is asserted President Stensland’s alleged defalcations 
will aggregate nearly $2,000,000.Autoists are 
aroused over the strict enforcement of the Pennsylvania 
law in the boroughs of Matamoras and Milford, near Port 
Jervis. N. ¥.. A dozen or more chauffeurs have been 
arrested and fined within the last two weeks. In Mata¬ 
moras the borough council decided to increase the fine of 
$10 to $50, and Constable Brink has marked off a line 
directly opposite his residence which is 05 feet from the 
end of the bridge on which autoists cross in going from 
Port Jervis to Pennsylvania. Forty-five seconds is the 
limit for this stretch. To make it in less time has cost 
several automobilists $10 each. The possibility of a $50 
fine as soon as the new borough ordinance is in force has 
caused warning to be given to the autoists. and the country 
about Matamoras is threatened with boycott. . . . The 
New Jersey Supreme Court has sustained the so-called 
Bishops’ excise law, which was attacked chiefly on the 
ground that the clause requiring saloons and not hotels to 
remove screens from the barrooms during the hours when 
the sale of liquors is prohibited by the New Jersey Constitu¬ 
tion. The Court readily found sufficient ground for sus¬ 
taining the constitutionality of the law as to all the points 
upon which it was assailed. With respect to the screens, 
the Court ruled that legislation that classifies licenses for 
the sale of intoxicants by retail, so that those who are 
required to expose their places of business to open view 
are distinguished from other licenses by palpable differ¬ 
ences in the condition under which the liquor Is to be sold, 
is not unconstitutional. The Bishops’ excise law authorizes 
local Boards of Excise Commissioners to order the re¬ 
moval of screens from the doors and windows of saloons, 
so that liquor cannot be sold in the barroom on Sundavs 
or election days without discovery. The Jersey City Excise 
Board was the first to take action through a resolution 
ordering the removal of the screens. Tbe Hudson County 
Liquor Dealers’ Association at once instituted proceedings 
to test the constitutional validity of the law, with the 
result stated. . . . Secret indictments returned August 
II by the Boston Grand Jury were made public August Iff. 
Indictments were returned against sevenreen ice dealers 
charging conspiracy to advance prices and against six ice 
companies as corporations. The individuals indicted were 
released under $1,000 bail each. In the Chelsea grafting 
case Benjamin P. Nicholls, secretary of the Chelsea Re¬ 
publican city committee, is accused’ of having attempted 
to bribe : Alderman Thomas B. Buggies of receiving a bonus, 
and Alderman David White of having solicited a bribe. 
. . . George Hall, a white ex-convict, was convicted 
August 10 at Salisbury, N. C., of conspiracy for his con¬ 
nection with the mob which lynched three negroes there 
August 0, and sentenced to 15 years in the penitentiary, 
the maximum penalty. This is the first conviction in that 
State on a charge of lynching. Congressman T. ,T. Kluttz, 
counsel for ITall, has, apnealed on the ground that Governor 
Glenn was out of the State when the call -was issued for 
the snec'al term of court at which Hall was tried and 
consequently that he had no jurisdiction. . . . Thomas 
Brown, a colored porter employed at the Fourteenth street 
station of the Third avenue elevated road, New York, 
noticed smoke coming from the woodwork covering the 
third rail August 14. He seized a watering can and began 
sprinkling the burning wood. Before he had done much 
sprinkling the electric current found its way up the water 
stream and shocked him severely. ITis left arm and hand 
were severely burned and he was taken to Bellevue Hospital. 
THE TRUSTS.—An indictment charging the Standard 
Oil Company with receiving rebates in the form of non-pay¬ 
ment of storage charges to certain railroad companies was 
returned bv the Federal Grand Jury before Judge S. H. 
Bethea August 8 at Chicago. The indictment came as a 
surprise, inasmuch as the Grand Jury had just begun the 
investigation. The Standard Oil Company is the only 
defendant, no officials of the company and no railroad com¬ 
panies or officials being named. The bond of the defendant 
was fixed bv Judge Bethea at $25,000. The indictment 
contains nineteen counts, each count constituting a separate 
charge. The true bills come under the Elkins law. which 
provides a fine of from $1,000 to $20,000 for each violation. 
Under this indictment, should the Government procure a 
conviction on the trial of the Issues, a fine of $380,000 as 
a maximum under the Elkins law may be assessed. The 
indictment alleges that by a system of granting to the 
Standard Oil Company certain concessions, the oil company 
benefited to the extent of $8,506.72 during a period of time 
from August, 1903, to February, 1905. The indictment, as 
explained by the Government's attorneys, means that in 
nineteen instances certain consignments of oil for the 
Standard Oil Company were stored by the Lake Shore and 
Michigan Southern Railroad Company, and that the rail¬ 
road company received no payment of five cents per ton per 
day from the oil company for such storage, but that its 
competitors were compelled to pay this amount. This is 
equivalent to granting a concession, it is charged, the 
nonpayment of the storage charges being practically a 
rebate in favor of the oil company. Each count sets up a 
discrimination of from $300 to $500 a month in favor of 
the oil company. The indictment is the first ever made by 
a f ederal Grand Jury against the Standard Oil Companv 
m its long career. . . . r I'he Federal Grand Jury for 
the \\ estern District of New York at Jamestown August 10 
reported indictments against the Standard Oil Company of 
New fork, the Pennsylvania Railroad, and the Vacuum Oil 
Company, which has refineries at Olean and Rochester. 
One indictment is found against each of the defendants, and 
in all there are. twenty-two counts. The indictment against 
tbe Pennsylvania Railroad charges that it granted rebates 
on oil shipments to tbe Standard Oil Company, and the 
indictment against the Standard charges that it accepted 
rebates from the Pennsylvania. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—The largest individual wool clip 
ever grown on the American continent was shipped August 
8 from Billings. Mont., to a Boston wool firm. The clip 
weighed 1,500,000 pounds and forty-four cars were required 
to carry it. The owner refused an offer of 24 cents a 
pound. 
, J- W- Radford. Kansas State grain inspector, who has 
just returned from Mexico, where he made investigations, 
says that lie found conclusive evidence that several Kansas 
,v J9' a ‘ n dealers substitute inferior grades of wheat after 
the State grain inspection department has inspected and 
given grades on the grain in cars. As the Kansas law 
stands now. there is no penalty provided for such an offence. 
Mr. Radford will ask that tbe Legislature pass a law 
making this kind of evasion of the inspection requirements 
a felony. 
I lie annual picnic of the Cambria Co., Pa., Pomona Grange 
was held August 8. The opening of the Grange National 
Bank of Patton was the feature of the celebration. The 
Grange had prepared an elaborate programme, which could 
not be carried out on account of rain. John A. Schwab, 
father of Charles M. Schwab, is president of the bank, 
J. A. Iarrabaugh vice-president and M. D. Bearer cashier. 
From nine o'clock until the closing hour there was a 
constant flow of depositors from every walk in life, keep¬ 
ing all the officials busy. Large deposits were made. Tbe 
bank starts under favorable conditions, and it has behind 
it a large clientele of prosperous farmers and business men. 
It owns a substantial bank building on the principal corner 
of the city which cost $21,000, with fixtures worth $6,000. 
Its fireproof vault and burglarproof safe were built on the 
most modern lines. 
to be expended to increase the yield of corn in that State 
by 000.000 bushels. Professor I*. G. Holden of the 
Iowa State Agricultural College at Ames, is to have charge 
of the matter. Last year there were about 9.000.000 acres 
of corn in Iowa, and the average yield was 36 bushels to 
the acre. The year before the yield was 32 bushels. Pro¬ 
fessor Holden believes that by the proper selection of the 
seed corn one-third can be added to the vield of tbe State 
and that the proposed increase of 5 000.000 bushels is a 
very conservative figure. To accomplish this be has planned 
to go into every section of the State and reach practically 
every farmer until he has the seed corn theories thoroughly 
inculcated into them. 
The new meat inspection law, supposed to go into effect 
August 13. will not be in effect until September I, accord¬ 
ing to officials of the Agricultural Department, or October 1, 
according to tbe Chicago packers. The sort of label for 
canned goods lias not yet been decided on. Every can will 
have to bear a label or certificate detailing the contents 
For instance, veal loaf. If packed with pork trimmings, 
will have to be renamed veal loaf and pork trimmings, 
while chicken and ham, if packed with a sprinkling of 
mutton and a slice or two of turkev, will bear the title 
chicken, ham, mutton and turkev. The packers announced 
that it would be impossible to ha'-e the printing done and 
everything arranged before the end of next month. 
CROP PROSPECTS. 
Our crops of nearly all kinds have been raised and mar¬ 
keted, the berries, cucumbers, string beans, Irish potatoes, 
squash, Bermuda onions, tomatoes, beets, cabnages and 
sweet corn paid well. Corn is about ready to crib next 
week: melons sold well and so did cantaloupes. Our Ha¬ 
vana and Sumatra tobacco crop of 30 acres grown under 
one-half shade has ali been gathered and hall' of it boxed 
and shipped to Quincy. Florida, to the purchaser who has 
a contract with us at 40 cents per pound, f. o. b., unassort 
ed. in big bundles and delivered in July and August. Get¬ 
ting ready for Fall crops now. w. e e 
Dade City, Fla. 
This season still holds the record for being the most 
perfect in its conditions for all crops, and all have re¬ 
sponded nobly so far. We have just passed through two or 
three weeks of the finest bay weather, and are now having 
fine rains to start pastures and meadows anew. I bought 
some seed of the Irish Cobbler potato from one of New 
York's most prominent growers, and was much disappointed 
in the appearance of the seed, also in cutting found so 
many hollow hearts. Planted about April 15 on what was 
an old strawberry bed: no fertilizer this year used. (Never 
use anything but barnyard manure). July 1 I dug part 
and found one-quarter or one-tliird of them as large as • 
baseballs, and a dry splendid-looking potato. All the neigh¬ 
bors want some seed. Ten or 15 years ago the old Mam¬ 
moth Cluster raspberry and others became so diseased 
with club roots, etc., that they were nearly exterminated. 
For the past two or three years they have been growing and 
sprouting up at their own sweet will, and seem to have 
shaken off their ailments unassisted and regained nearlv 
their old-time luxuriance and fruitfulness. Blackberry 
bushes are loaded with fine fruit also, past the ken of our 
oldest inhabitants. Have had plenty of green corn since 
June 17, not water blisters. Potatoes and corn planted in 
open ground, not in boxes or other wavs of forcing. 
Elmoville, Ill. _ ‘ vv s 
BUSINESS BITS. 
A. H. Hoffman, one of the good farmers of Lancaste 
c j>-» p a.. makes a strong appeal for the seed wheat order 
of The R. N.-Y.’s readers this week. The “Lancaster Ful 
caster” variety is one of Mr. Hoffman’s specialties, but h 
aiso offers several other well known varieties. Addres 
A. H. Hoffman, Bamford, Pa. 
The American Harrow Company, Detroit, Michigan offe 
to let any responsible farmer use their new Detroit tongue 
less disc harrow a month, to prove that it takes all weDh 
off the horses’ necks saves much of the strength of th 
team by doing away with the tongue which, on ordinal- 
disc barrows, beats up the horses’ legs and worries tliei 
life out in the turns—also that with this tongueless liar 
row there is none of the “side draft” common with al 
harrows. Write to the American Harrow Companv 
1M0 Hf^tnigs St., Detroit. Michigan, for their new liar 
row Book. Pick out the size harrow you want and tell them 
The Ilench & Dromgold Co.. Manufacturers, York Pa 
have made a close study of farming requirements, and’ ther 
is scarcely a phase of agricultural work that has not beei 
bettered and lightened by the inventive genius and com 
mercial enterprise of this firm. The wide sale all over th 
country of their York force feed grain and fertilizer dril 
indicates how well they supply the farmer’s needs, and hov 
quickly the farmer recognizes a helpful and well-made tool 
Ibis firm issues a catalogue containing manv valuabl 
points on the care and use of agricultural machinery i 
copy will be mailed to any farmer, upon request, bv s'imol 
addressing Hench & Dromgold Co., York, Pa. 
