824 
November 9, 
• Rural isms f 
3 -^ ^ ^ ^ w 'W' < r*r+ 
m -■ ■ — ■■■ — 
WOTh'S FROM THE RURAL GROUNDS 
At Last a Hybrid Chinquapin.— 
Figs. 407 and 408 arc portraits of fruits 
of probably the first intentional hybrid be¬ 
tween eur native chinquapin and an old- 
world chestnut that has reached bearing 
age. The pictures are a trifle above nat¬ 
ural size, but the proportion between the 
hybrid nut and the parents on either 
hand are well shown in Fig. 407. 1 he 
seed parent, No. 1 in the picture, is a 
good-sized wild chinquapin, selected for 
its dwarf growth, productiveness and 
early bearing; No. 2 is the hybrid nut 
as borne singly in a bur, and No. 3 a 
fair quality unnamed Japan chestnut, still 
white and immature in early October, 
when the wild and hybrid chinquapins 
were brown and ripe. The crossing was 
effected on the Rural Grounds in 1905, 
and this particular seedling 18 months 
after germination, ripened three burs, 
containing three plump nuts each, one of 
which is shown in Fig. 408, and four 
others with a single round nut each in 
regular chinquapin style. The color is 
rich dark brown, with scarcely a trace 
of fuzz, and the quality about that of a 
good native chestnut, but not quite as 
sweet as the wild chinquapin. It is im¬ 
measurably better than the best Japan 
cbestnut that has come to our hands. 
The nuts from the triple-fruited burs 
would pass for fair-sized, highly-polished 
native chestnuts, and when freely borne 
on a quick-growing and early-fruiting 
shrub of chinquapin type, would appear 
to possess both interest and value. What 
this hybrid will actually do remains to be 
seen. At present it is a thrifty branch¬ 
ing little shrub, less than three feet high 
of ordinary chinquapin appearance, ex¬ 
cept that the leaves are nearly equally 
green on both sides. None other of our 
seedlings, and we have quite a number, 
two to four years old. has yet fruited, 
though some have produced catkins. We 
naturally expect better quality where the 
crossing was made with pollen from Da¬ 
tive chestnuts and such well-flavored 
Europeans as Numbo, Paragon and 
Ridgeley, but will be reconciled if noth¬ 
ing better than the present one turns up. 
When chinquapin pollen was used and 
the resulting plants grown from cross- 
fertilized native or foreign chestnuts, they 
are larger and more tree-like in habit, but 
plainly show chinquapin influence in fol¬ 
iage and branches. 
The Hopeful Chinquapin. —We have 
frequently referred to the chinquapin in 
this column. For the benefit of north¬ 
ern readers who may not be familiar 
with this most distinct native species, we 
can say it is the smallest in tree and nut 
of the four known chestnut species, and 
is also admittedly of the highest quality. 
It is abundantly found as a shrub from 
three to 42 feet high, and more rarely as 
a slender tree, up to 50 feet in height. 
The leaves are quite light on the under¬ 
side, and the small nuts are usually borne 
one in a bur. The natural range is from 
New Jersey and Pennsylvania to Florida 
and Texas. It is not usually found to 
be hardy in cultivation north of New 
York. Natural hybrids undoubtedly oc¬ 
cur between the chinquapin and chestnut 
when both grow together, but are rare, 
as the former is generally out of bloom 
before the latter begins. The best known 
of the supposed natural hybrids is the 
Rush chinquapin, figured in The R. N.- 
Y. for November, 4, 1906. The original 
tree is growing in Lancaster County, 
Pennsylvania, and is about 40 feet high. 
The nuts are nearly as large as a native 
chestnut, of fine sweet flavor, very abun¬ 
dantly borne one in a bur. Rarely there 
are two or even three good nuts in a 
bur. The leaves are large and almost as 
green on the under surface as the up¬ 
per. Grafted trees bear when only four 
The rural neW-YoRKEr- 
of five feet high. It appears quite hardy, 
and is well worth growing. Further 
blending of the chinquapin with large 
fruited chestnuts of the various species 
may, by combining good quality, produc¬ 
tiveness, early bearing and dwarf growth, 
give us something better than we can 
imagine in the present crude stage of 
chestnut breeding. 
An Ancient Seed Business. —Anni¬ 
versary catalogues celebrating quarter 
and half century terms in the seed busi¬ 
ness are not uncommon in this country, 
and at least one widely known firm has 
completed its full century of continuous 
trading in seeds and garden supplies. We 
naturally expect more venerable records 
among the seedsmen of the older coun¬ 
tries of Europe. Even there 100 years of 
The roofing that makes 
you forget you have a roof is 
Gen-as-co. 
No leaks; no troubles from cracking, rusting, and rot¬ 
ting, as you have with coal-tar, tin, and shingle roofs. 
Gen-as'-co Ready Roofing has the permanent water¬ 
proofing qualities of Trinidad Lake Asphalt sealed within it. 
Put Gen-as'-co on all your buildings if vou want a last¬ 
ing, economical roof. 
Any handy man can lay it. Nails and cement in each roll. Ask 
your dealer. Write for samples and Book 10 
uninterrupted seed trading is highly re¬ 
spectable as a proof of stability, and is 
far from common, but what appears to 
be the most ancient establishment of all 
is the business of M. Jacques Rolland, 
Nimes, France, who conducts a seed trade 
THE BARBER ASPHALT PAVING COMPANY 
Largest producers of asphalt in the world 
PHILADELPHIA. 
New York San Francisco Chicago 
that began in 1680, or 227 years ago, and 
has been continued without interruption 
ever since. M. Rolland appears to be a 
particularly modest man, as he says. 
“I should be very glad to know if I can 
count my business to be the oldest one in 
the world’s seed trade,” instead of so 
claiming it without question. 
•Plant Breeding at Experiment Sta¬ 
tions. —Reports and bulletins from the 
various agricultural college experiment 
stations show increased interest in eco¬ 
nomic plant breeding. The subjects, 
chosen for development are usually those 
of greatest local importance. Thus in 
the Middle West corn breeding has pre¬ 
ferred attention; in the more distant 
Prairie States wheat and allied cereals 
are of dominant interest; in the South 
cotton and tobacco. New Jersey gives 
greatest prominence to trucking crops, 
while Iowa and Dakota bend every ef¬ 
fort toward the production of table 
fruits capable of enduring the rigors of 
the northern climate. The report of the 
Botanical Department of the New Jer¬ 
sey Station for 1906, lately issued, has 
over 20 fine plates and nearly 500 pages 
of text describing elaborate experiments 
in crossing and otherwise breeding beans, 
table and pop corns, eggplants, peas, 
squashes and tomatoes. Some excellent 
varieties originating in this way have 
been fixed and disseminated in past years, 
and the work appears rich in promise of 
future achievement. The South Dakota 
station in Bulletin No. 103 reports on the 
extensive work, several years in progress, 
toward breeding a hardy local strawberry 
by crossing indigenous native species with 
the most promising commercial varieties 
from the East. There are 15 plates of 
hybrid seedling berries and their wild 
parents and others showing the work of 
breeding in Winter under glass, and of 
testing the products in the experimental 
fields. While encouraging progress has 
been made, especially where Alaskan 
forms of Fragaria Ghiloensis, the large 
Pacific Coast strawberry, were used, no 
new varieties of commercial importance 
appear to have been developed yet. The 
problem is a difficult one, as the hope. is 
to get large, firm berries on productive 
plants, vigorous and hardy enough to en¬ 
dure Winter temperature as low as 50 
degrees below zero without protection. 
They get hardy plants and plenty of ber¬ 
ries, good ones, too, but they are as yet 
too small to be of practical value, but by 
continued production of secondary and 
dilute hybrids, hardiness and size may in 
the end be combined. The familiar com¬ 
mercial kinds grow well on the north¬ 
western prairies, enduring drought and 
wind better than would be expected, but 
succumb to the terrific Winter and 
Spring frosts even when heavily mulched. 
Hardy varieties of sufficient size must 
be had if strawberries are to be grown 
there at all, and the Brookings Experi¬ 
ment Station is determined to have them 
if there is a way to develop them. Such 
work is almost without hope of pecu¬ 
niary return and can better be con¬ 
ducted by public institutions than by in¬ 
dividuals. w. V. F. 
THE DEYO 
POWER SPRAYER 
Mounted complete -with mechanical agita¬ 
tor. Better than ever. New air-cooled engine. 
Other new features, all important to the man 
who sprays. Write for new catalog 19—j ust out. 
R. H. DEYO 6 C0. f Binghamton, N. Y. 
GET THE BEST 
A Good Spray Pump earns big 
profits and lasts for years. 
THE ECLIPSE 
is a good pump. As 
ipractical fruit growers 
we were using common 
sprayers in our own orchards 
—found their defects and 
invented the Eclipse. Its 
success forced us to manu- 
l aI a* facturing on a large scale. 
-.You take no chances. We 
••■ have done all the experi¬ 
menting. Large fully illustrated Catalog and 
Treatise on spraying FREE. * 
MORRILL & MORI.EY. Benton Harbor, Mich. 
✓-SAN JOSE SCALE-n 
KILLER 
KIL-O-SCALE is the most reliable remedy 
for Scale. Ready for use by simply mixing 
with water. We also sell Spraying Outfits. 
Write for catalogue. 
HENRY A. DREER, - - Philadelphia, Pa. 
f Save Your Trees ^ 
Kill San Jose Seale and other destructive 
parasites with a spraying solution of 
Good’s Soap No. 3 
Sure deatli to insects. No sulphur, salt, mineral 
oils, or any substance harmful to plant life. En¬ 
dorsed by U.S.Dept.of Agriculture. Rocket Manual 
of cause, treatment and cure of tree diseases, free. 
Write today. JAMES GOOD, 
^jigina^^IakerMW^^^ron^SL^^niiladelgbi^ 
DOG POWERS 
HARDER MFG. CO. „ 
Box II. Cobleskill. N. Y. 
will run hand cream, 
separators, churns, 
fan mills, washing 
machines, etc. 
m licit. Cheapest* 
Cider Machinery—Send for Catalogue to Boomer & 
BosckertPress Co., 118 West Water St. .Syracuse, N.Y. 
% 
A 
DESTROY 
SAN JOSE 
SCALE 
tefore it destroys your trees. The 
one absolutely sure way to eradicate 
' this pest entirely is by using SAI.I- 
MINK — the best, safest, cheapest, 
concentrated spray on the market. 
The original 
TRADE 
SALIM INE 
MARK 
is the result of ten years "At It” and 
“ Know How.” It is a Lime, Salt, Sul- 
g liur, and Caustic Potash solution. 
Recognized by all experimental sta¬ 
tions as the best insecticide for thor¬ 
oughly eradicating scale. One gallon 
mixed with cold water makes ‘JO gal¬ 
lons of the standard solution. Write 
to-day for free circular with prices. 
Monmouth Chemical Works, 
Dent a SHREWSBURY. N 
D ON’T spend time or 
money on a cheap 
tank when the CALD¬ 
WELL TANK costs no 
more and wears and lasts 
much longer. Bed Gulf 
Cypress aud scientific 
hooping make our tanks 
leak-proof, wear- proof 
aud decay-proof. 
Thousands sold to 
prove It, with many 
In your vicinity, 
for references and 
catalogue. 
W. E. CALDWELL CO., Louisville, Ky. 
(oSffl) 
Wind Mills, Pumps,Gas Engines, 
H * VE WATER SYSTEM ?ar y m u * 
It Is easy and Inexpensive if you have a 
brook, spring or pond on your place. Let 
Power Specialty Company 
Fit you out with a simple, 
automatic, guaranteed Rifo 
Hydraulic Ram or a Foster 
High Duty Ram. Water raised 
to any height. No trouble, no repairs. 
Free Catalogue gives valuable sugges¬ 
tions. Address 
POWER SPECIALTY COMPANY, 111 Broadway, New York City 
For BEST and CHEAPEST 
Wood Preservatives 
Address C. S. McKINNKY, Manager, 
CAHBOLINKUM WOOD-PRESKHMNO CO., 
60 Wall Street, New York. 
66 
FUMA 
■ ■ hills Prairie Dogs, 
" ' Woodchucks,Gophers, 
and Grain Insects. 
"The wheels of the 
gods grind slow but 
exceedingly small.” So the weevil, but you can stop 
theD gUnd iip uma BiSUlpllide”are doing! 
KDWAKI) It. TAYLOR, Penn Yan, N. Y. 
Monarch 
Hydraulic 
Cider Press 
Great strength and ca¬ 
pacity; all sizes; also 
gasoline engines, 
steam engines, 
saw mills, thresh¬ 
ers. Catalog free, 
■anarch Machinery Co., Reom 161 ■ 39 Cortlandt St., Raw York. 
Tobacco Stems 
Can furnish limited amount tobacco stems at 
87 per ton in bales. Tills is one of the best 
fertilizers that can lie used, either to turn 
under or as a mulch. Cash must accompany 
order. To any purchaser not satisfied with 
results in one year’s time, we will cheerfully 
refund his money. Reference : First Nation¬ 
al Bank. 
S. E. WATERS CO., Miamisburg, Ohio. 
Sure Death to San Jose Scale 
It’s cheap and effective. Easy to use. Non-corrosive and non-clogging. 
“SCALECIDE” contains more oil and less water than any other commercial IO/IOON 
spray. We can prove it. 50-gallon barrel at your station, if east of the Missis- [ A 
sippi and north of the Ohio River, for $25 cash. Smaller packages if yon wish. I barrel 
Write now for Special Booklet N It’s free. ' NOW i 
B. G. PRATT COMPANY. Mfg. Chemists, 11 Broadway, New York City. 
