202 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
March 9, 
the long eight-rowed type, the short eight-rowed type 
and the li-rowed type. I here are many variations in 
color and shape of ears of each of these types. This 
fact has brought out a great list of names, but the im¬ 
portant characters of the corns are the same. The 
short eight-rowed Early Canada strains are probably the 
earliest types of flint corn, and will mature the farthest 
north. On fertile soils the plants often produce two and 
ihree ears apiece, which makes the productiveness much 
higher than the size of the ear would lead one to sus¬ 
pect. Another point to be remembered in judging the 
value of these varieties is'the fact that fully one-third 
more of their plants will be supported on the average 
soil than can be grown of the large dent corns. The 12- 
rowed types (Fig. 100, ear 1) have not been developed 
to a very high degree, but give great promise of future 
possibilities. They are quite variable, and little atten¬ 
tion has been paid to “fixing” desirable high-yielding 
strains. 
In Fig. 100, the first two ears are the eight-rowed 
types of corn, which arc intermediate between the dent 
corns and the dint corns. These show a slight dented 
crown with some floury crown starch, but in other 
characteristics resemble the eight-rowed flint corns. They 
arc fair yielders, but have developed several bad char¬ 
acters, and are hard to fix to a marketable type. The 
extremely large kernels dry out slowly, and the large 
tough shank makes slow work of husking. Ears' 3 and 
4 in big. 101 are the northern and hilly upland devel¬ 
opments of the dent corns. There are a number of 
these varieties, with dent characters in all but the 
flinty appearance of the seed. They are not very pro¬ 
ductive, but can be depended upon to mature in shorter 
seasons than any of the large southern dents. These 
cars are relatively high in feeding value, and there arc 
here prospects of developing excellent strains partic¬ 
ularly adapted to mature in northern latitudes or high 
altitudes. Personally, I believe that varieties should he 
isolated which produce a large number of two-ear stalks 
with rather small -cars, instead of trying to develop the 
size of the ear. An increased size of ear will certainly 
make a later maturing variety. Tn b'ig. 102 are shown 
types of the improved dents. The largest ear weighs 
20 ounces dry, and even the exceptional length of sea¬ 
son of 1906 matured but few ears even in southern 
Connecticut. E. M. east. 
Connecticut Experiment Station. 
SOME JUICY CRAPE NOTES. 
Some advise pruning grapes in the Fall; others say by 
pruning in the Spring buds will not open so soon and avoid 
a late frost. What is your advice? . N. p. y. 
OrosBville, III. 
I would like to know what kind of grapes Mr. Ilartman 
has from which he got an average of eight cents a pound. 
Decatur, Ind. d. g. m. t. 
I read Mr. Hartman’s articles on grape pruning with 
great Interest, and found that lie agreed with the usual 
practice here, but it seems to me that an amateur might 
go badly astray without a little further advice on the sub¬ 
ject. It is a commonly accepted view here that large long- 
jointed canes are comparatively unfruitful. The best canes 
to leave for fruit are about the size of a lead pencil, and 
have buds two or three inches apart. The lower branches 
are left, with six to eight buds, and the upper with from 
10 to 12, leaving a vine from 30 to 50 buds, according to the 
strength and vigor of the vine. Of course, no two vines are 
alike, and often one cannot find the ideal canes, but our 
aim is to come as near to it ns possible and the tendency 
is to leave rather weak canes in preference to large long- 
jointed ones. The Summer pruning Mr. Ilartman recom¬ 
mends is seldom if ever practiced here largely, on account of 
lack of time, I think, but all suckers and branches below 
the lower bearing branches, are pulled off two or three times 
In vineyards having good care. There are one or two ob¬ 
jections to Winter pruning, but here they seldom outweigh 
the advantage of getting the job out of the way. They are 
that when branches are frozen they break very easily and 
one needs to use considerable care not to have the vine with 
loo few buds and that severe cold weather may injure a 
branch which one has left for fruit. If I had less than a 
thousand vines 1 would trim in March, as it is, T trim when 
it is not too cold and the snow is not too deep. I would 
like to have Mr. Hartman tell us how many vines, of what 
varieties, on what kind of soil he has, and how they were 
fertilized. I would also like to know if any of your readers 
have ever experimented with different kinds and amounts of 
fertilizers. Very little fertilizer is used here, and then not 
in a way tp give comparative results. I’rof. Taft of the 
Michigan Agricultural College at a farmers’ Institute re¬ 
cently recommended 200 pounds muriate of potash and 200 
pounds ground-bone per acre, but I think it was on general 
principles and not on experiment. Nitrogen is supposed to 
produce long-jointed, large, unfruitful canes. The best 
vineyard in this neighborhood produced in 1900. 19,000 
eight-pound baskets of Concords on 11 acres, netting prob- 
nbly about $1,700. As to quality of grapes, we have heavy 
land some five miles south of us, and I have never tasted 
grapes from that kind of land that would begin to compare 
in quality with those raised on our sand. o. p. seward. 
Michigan. 
In regard to several queries as to the varieties of 
(grapes I grow and the number of vines T have, readers 
may remember from “Seven Years on Our Truck 
Farm” that my work largely consists of growing vege¬ 
tables and small fruits -for a home market, and that 
grapes are simply an adjunct of the business, hence are 
grown on a comparatively small scale, and the larger 
part of them have been a recent addition. This being 
the case T may remark incidentally that my knowledge 
of this fruit is based on close observation and study, 
rather than extensive experience. I have 1,300 vines, 
planted 8x8 feet. One hundred of these, all Concords, 
were planted 10 years ago. The other 1,200 were 
planted in the Spring of 1904, and bore their “baby” 
crop last Summer. These consist of 500 Concords, 200 
Moore’s Early, 200 Moore’s Diamond, 150 Niagara and 
150 Brighton. Of the 3,000 pounds of grapes sold last 
year nearly two-thirds were Concords, the remainder 
SMITH CIDER AND BELLFLOWER APPLES. Fig. 103. 
largely consisting of Moore’s Diamond and Niagara. 
There were perhaps 200 pounds Moore’s Early and less 
than 100 pounds Brighton. All promise to be entirely 
satisfactory except Brighton. These are superb in 
quality, but the vines are extremely uneven in vigor, 
and being a red grape it shows a tendency to be uncer¬ 
tain in coloring properly in my soil. Moore’s Early and 
Moore’s Diamond, on account of their extreme earli¬ 
ness, give special promise as money-makers. Moore’s 
Diamond is exceptionally promising. Its only fault 
that I have, discovered is the difficulty of readily deter¬ 
mining from appearance when it is fully ripe. Concord 
and Niagara arc “old reliables” and need no comment. 
My vineyards are located on a western and a north¬ 
western slope. The soil consists of -well drained, 
gravelly, sandy loam of scant natural fertility. Just a 
few words here with regard to preparing grapes for 
market. Fruit may be first class in every respect, and 
yet make a very poor showing, because of carelessness 
in handling and thus destroying the delicate bloom, or 
the just as inexcusable carelessness in failing to remove 
all imperfect berries or anything that may detract from 
the very best appearance. s 
In respect to Mr. Seward’s statement that “the best 
canes to leave for fruit are about the size of a lead 
pencil,” I wish to suggest, with all due regard for the 
common practice of a successful grape growing dis¬ 
trict, that possibly they arc succeeding in spite of, rather 
than because of such a practice. Now, a shoot the size 
of a lead pencil—one-fourth of an inch in diameter— 
¥ ;-;- 
THE GENUINE OLD OAKEN BUCKET. Fig. 194. 
is very much below the average size and vigor of the 
shoots of a fairly vigorous vine. When we consider the 
comparatively local character of circulation in all vege¬ 
table life, does it not appear that by such practice we 
depend on the weakest instead of the strongest points 
of the vine to produce the crop? The weaker vines 
may set more clusters, just as any fruit tree in the last 
stages of failure usually produces an abundance of 
bloom—nature’s last strenuous effort for reproduction 
—but will the clusters be as large and fine? There 
appears to be another serious objection to the practice. 
I find by actual measurement (and by the way, certain 
varieties differ widely in this respect) that in Concords 
the joints of healthy vines one-fourth inch in diameter 
average about four inches 'apart, while joints on 
healthy vines three-eighths of an inch in diameter, 
which I think about the ideal size, are six inches apart; 
thus the larger vine gives a much greater spread for 
vines and fruits. I am not speaking in favor of long- 
jointed vines, but in favor of larger vines with length 
of joint in proportion to their size. This, aside from 
spreading the fruit for the desirable effects of free air 
circulation and sunshine, gives us the best possible 
chance to secure the vigorous, solid, healthy, well-rip¬ 
ened and short-jointed growth we so much desire for 
otir next year’s renewal canes. When grown in this 
manner I think we can use the most vigorous canes to 
advantage, even when one-half inch or more in diam¬ 
eter,, by making one bud spurs of their well-developed 
secondaries. Then, too, is not the occasional loss of 
canes from severe cold, when Fall pruned, directly due 
to this selection of weak canes? I cannot see how Fall 
pruning cap possibly influence the liability to winter¬ 
kill ; but it is easy to see that the weak canes are liable 
to injury whether the vine is pruned or not. < 
As to the claim advanced by some that early pruning 
forces early growth, I think we need the opinion of 
some one who has made definite experiments along this 
line, and who has been careful not to mix cause and 
effect. I have noticed that an unpruned vine, missed 
from lying on the ground hidden in the snow, buds 
much earlier than a pruned vine on the trellis, and 
from that observation the argument might be reversed, 
but I think the true cause for the early budding was 
the warm, sheltered position of the vine on the ground. 
Also I have observed that the small branches bud earlier 
than the larger ones. It is probably almost entirely a 
matter of temperature. Of course pruning is not the 
whole story of growing either fine grapes or healthy 
canes. Cultural methods and fertilization are just as 
important, and these need to be adapted to local con¬ 
ditions. On my soil, 1 use, and I think to good advan¬ 
tage, 1,000 pounds per acre, annually, of the high-grade 
fertilizers I use in my trucking operations, analyzing 
about four per cent nitrogen, eight per cent available 
phosphoric acid, and 10 per cent potash. This is ap¬ 
plied broadcast before first cultivation early in the 
Spring. A little more than half of the nitrogen is de¬ 
rived from nitrate of soda, which forces a vigorous 
growth earlv in the season, gradually subsiding as the 
ripening period approaches. On rich soils such lavish 
use of fertilizers would be wasteful and perhaps ruin¬ 
ous to the crop. T would be cautious about using the 
200 pounds of ground hone per acre, as suggested, on 
land that naturally produces a strong growth of vine. 
In such a case I would prefer 14 per cent acidulated 
rock. The muriate of potash would be all right, though 
I should prefer sulphate of potash. * 
Speaking of soils, while grapes may be profitably 
grown on a great variety of soils, where there is an 
opportunity of choice, the best quality of fruit can al¬ 
ways be grown on soils of a somewhat sandy compo¬ 
sition. I begin cultivation early in the Spring without 
plowing and keep it up till .some time in June, after 
which wecd.'v mostly crab grass, are allowed to occupy 
the surface and arc kept cropped close by mowing 
twice. This method has given me finely colored fruit, 
well-ripened wood, surface protection for Winter and 
some humus forming material for the soil. 
Pennsylvania. D. l. hartman. 
A HANDY GASOLINE ENGINE . 
f am using an Olds 4^2 horse-power engine; after I 
had decided to buy an engine I went out for business 
and inspection, stating what I expect to do with it. 
I want it to drive a No. 18 Ohio cutting box and elevate 
the silage in a 24-foot silo. According to the agent 
that would be a small matter, (lots of power to spare, 
he says). I took the machine home, mounted it on 
2x6 oak scantlings in the form of a stoneboat (where it 
is yet), then went to work. The engine did fairly 
well, but had no power to spare. Then I tried it on my 
apple grinder; there it was easy. Next 1 borrowed a 
feed grinder from a neighbor, thinking of buying it, but 
this was too slow work for me. Then I bought a circular 
saw and there alone the engine is worth its money, al¬ 
though not enough power, but as I do not make a 
business of going out it does fairly well. This will 
explain what a man needs on his farm. T was tempted 
to write to you last Fall when I read in The R. N.-Y. 
the different opinions in your paper. A. C. E. 
Many readers come forward to say (hey have caught 
the “ Alfalfa fever.” It is a good disease which we en¬ 
courage in a mild form. After the Alfalfa has been de¬ 
veloped one of the most useful things to go with it are 
lead pencil and paper. This is not so much to figure out 
profits as to show what Alfalfa will do when we realize 
that it is equal to wheat bran for feeding. 
