886 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
December 7, 
that show large and constant production of fruit. In 
propagating certain varieties (though not in the nursery 
business) we use the same method in seedling stock, 
and frequently have apples on the trees at two years. 
In selecting buds from the young nursery trees that are 
stimulated for growth, the growing or vegetative habit 
is encouraged and the tendency with trees so propa¬ 
gated is to continue to make growth rather than to de¬ 
velop the production of fruit. The same law will apply 
to vegetable life as to animal propagation. Breeding 
from young, immature animals, especially sires, is not 
practiced by the most intelligent breeders, but trees 
have not been considered as governed by the same 
law. There is little doubt that trees may be so improved 
by studying individual characteristics and propagating 
from them as to be made largely resistant to disease, 
to frost injury, and to give much more early and 
profitable fruit bearing. 
We have sometimes lost large numbers of buds by 
taking them before they were sufficiently matured, 
they lacked vitality to withstand unfavorable condi¬ 
tions, while strong, well-matured buds would go 
through all right. Nurserymen cannot afford to sell 
trees propagated from buds from mature bearing trees 
for the same price as those grown from the young 
nursery stock, for a much larger number will fail and 
they will have a larger number of misses in their rows, 
but we would rather give one dollar apiece for trees 
grown from buds from carefully selected trees of known 
fine quality, in health, vigor and productiveness, than 
to receive trees as usually propagated as a gift. 
GEORGE T. POWELL. 
CORN THAT WON A FARM. 
A reader in Iowa sends us the following statement 
from his State paper. Surely Mr. Bennett has some¬ 
thing to be thankful for: 
Jefferson, la., October 24.—Special: Ray Bennett, resid¬ 
ing near Ames, in Story County, made an extraordinary win¬ 
ning at the Chicago Corn Exposition, capturing a Texas 
farm and numerous other prizes. Bennett, who is a young 
man, has had previous experience as a corn exhibitor, having 
not long since captured the Whitney trophy at Ames, valued 
at $150, for the best 10 ears of corn of any variety. The 
ears which won the Whitney trophy were not those exhibited 
in Chicago, however. Although he thought his crop of corn 
not up to the standard this year, Bennett found 10 ears 
Which he determined to take to Chicago. After the judges 
had completed their work this 10 ears had tags on them, 
which showed that he won a pair of $5 shoes, $7.50 worth of 
milk cans, a surface cultivator worth $25, a gold watch 
worth $25, a feed grinder valued at $120 and a 160-acre farm 
in Texas valued at $6,400, and tied another man for a prize 
piano in another class. Their winnings alone amounted to 
nearly $7,000. 
If anyone can show 10 ears of corn which produce a 
large crop before the seed is planted, we would like to 
hear from them. These 10 ears might make a fair feed 
for two horses. Other farmers may have even larger 
ears, but no one will hand out watches or shoes, and 
much less a farm for them! Why is that? These 10 
prize-winning ears have a good pedigree—the papers 
fit the ears in every respect. They are the right shape 
and size for seed. They are well bred to a definite 
standard. 
But can anyone afford to pay such prizes for seed 
corn? Certainly—that is the only way to bring out 
the best, to stimulate competition and teach farmers 
to select the best seed. Make a few figures to show 
what a single State like Iowa or Illinois may lose through 
poor seed. Much of it will not grow and more of it 
follows its parent and produces poor stalks and poorer 
ears. Think of the gain to a State if the crop is in¬ 
creased by only 5 per cent in yield through improved 
seed. Then remember that improvement can only come 
through careful and constant selection of the best corn 
with a definite standard in view. Prizes worth $1,000,- 
000 would mean a small investment if they stimulated 
observation and interest. 
QUALITY IN RADISH SEEDS. 
On page 702 I saw a complaint about Globe radish 
seed. If A. D. F. has trouble to get good radish seed, 
if he only uses a few ounces, he could raise his own 
seeds. Sow the seeds in the Spring outdoors, from 
March 15 to June 1, in this locality. Then when they 
are large enough, pull them all up and transplant them 
to good garden soil. Be careful to select only the best 
roots. Do not plant them where there were any rad¬ 
ishes before, or any of the cabbage family, as they 
are apt to get diseased. Be careful there is no wild rad¬ 
ish, mustard, cabbage or turnip in blossom nearby when 
they are in blossom, as the bees or wind will mix the 
pollen, and the crops would be worthless. The poor 
seeds that are offered in the market like the one shown 
in Fig. 344. page 600. come from roots not transplanted 
or mixed in the field with other kinds of pollen. It 
is a hard matter to guarantee seeds: even the most 
carefully grown seeds do not always give satisfaction. 
We have to deal with the elements, too cold, too wet, 
too dry, too hot, too much seed sown in one spot, etc. 
Of course there are dishonest dealers, but are all the 
growers honest? 
In a recent lawsuit the complainant bought two 
pounds of celery seed. It was not up to the standard, 
and claim was made for $6,000 damages. Can an hon¬ 
est man on either side claim or give that sum of money 
for ten dollars’ worth of seeds? If the market gar¬ 
deners were in the seed business they could not do any 
better. I do not doubt there are a few dishonest dealers 
in seeds, but these are not representative firms. The reg¬ 
ular seedsmen know if they sow bad seeds they cannot 
get good crops; men who have their capital invested 
SPADE PLANTING; INSERTING THE SPADE. Fig. 449. 
and their reputation do not sell intentionally bad seeds. 
Planters who have had experience do not wait to the 
last moment to buy their seeds. Radish seeds are good 
for five years and can be bought in advance. 
Radishes are considered as annual; they flower and 
bear seeds the first year, but the large kinds are better 
to sow the latter part of Summer and keep through 
the Winter, planting them in the Spring. One gramme 
of radish seed contains about 120 seeds. The germina- 
tive power is retained five years; the extreme is 10 
years. The Scarlet Globe, originated in this country 
by Vick, is one of the best for New York market, 
either under glass or outdoors. Some market gar¬ 
deners sow as much as 250 pounds, in one season. The 
best seeds so far come from France. 
_HENRI BEAULIEU. 
NEW “ REMEDIES ” FOR THE SCALE. 
Not long ago a reader asked advice about a “new 
method” for killing San Jose scale and curing “yel¬ 
lows” in the peach. His plan was to insert something 
into the bark and let it work into the sap. The man 
spoke of advertising it, and would apply for a patent. 
SPADE PLANTING ; READY FOR FOOT WORK. Fig. 450. 
We advised him to forget about it and not invest good 
money in any such scheme. Now we are criticised by 
another reader for giving such advice. He thinks such 
things should be encouraged and investigated. During 
the past 10 years we have had more than 50 proposi¬ 
tions of the kind. In half of them we were asked to 
put up money to help buy the patent. In every case the 
plan was either to bore a hole in the tree and insert a 
powder or liquid, or to paint a liquid or paste on the 
outside. The argument always was that the substance 
thus applied would work through the bark into the 
sap, and either kill the insects or drive them away. 
One of the most plausible statements of this sort came 
from New Jersey where several reliable men claimed to 
have killed the scale on peach trees by painting the 
trunks with carbolic acid. A belt about a foot wide 
was thus painted around the tree. While the acid 
killed the scale which it touched on the outside there 
were found plenty of living scales on the limbs and 
branches. There was no evidence that the acid had 
worked into the sap. Prof. B. D. Halsted, o-f New 
Jersey, is one of the highest authorities in the coun¬ 
try. He says, in discussing the possibility of any such 
plan: 
The outer hark takes no part in feeding a tree, and there is 
no circulation through it. The sap is carried through the layer 
between bark and wood, and only the liquids prepared by 
the root system are carried through it. It would he im¬ 
possible for carbolic acid to enter unaltered into the general 
circulation, and even if all that could soak through the 
outer bark was carried into the sap as rapidly as it worked 
through it would be so diluted when it reached the leaves 
and twigs as to be imperceptible. 
The man who criticises us says that all know that 
corn feeding colors the skin of a chicken yellow, though 
we do not find this true of the white-skinned breeds. 
He can see from the above that feeding a chidden 
through its mouth and trying to put substances through 
the bark into a tree are two very different operations. 
We should do no man a kindness to advise him to 
patent or advertise any such “remedy. ’ Knowing what 
we do about such things, we could not advertise it, and 
the man would be classed as a “fake” by intelligent 
people. 
FROM CITY TO COUNTRY. 
Your reply to the city man who wants to live in the 
country, on page 797, was kindly written and good as 
far as it went, but it did not solve the problem for that 
man, or others like him. You gave him excellent ad¬ 
vice, worthy of careful consideration, but after all, the 
problem cannot be solved by another, however well 
informed, but is one that must be resolutely worked out 
by the individual with the unstinted help of his wife 
and children. You mention New York State as afford¬ 
ing fair opportunities, and in so doing you are not 
over-partial to New York. If hay continues 
to bring $20 to $22 a ton or anywhere near 
those, figures, with his $2,000 he could buy 
a run-down farm and raise hay with some 
apples and chickens as profitable side lines. If not too 
dry, the grass would grow while he slept, and he would 
not have to get up at 4 a. m., except right in haying 
time, and then (if not too wet), by the aid of ma¬ 
chinery, he could cut and dry it and rush it under cover 
and be happy all the rest of the year—that is, if he is 
that kind of a man. First it is requisite that the man 
must know what there is in him—what he reallv wants 
and is aiming for, and then be sure, if possible, how 
much he can depend upon the help of his family. 
While working for success he must all the time brace 
himself to encounter failures that no human power can 
prevent. For instance, the writer sent to The R. N.-Y. 
about two years ago, an account of a man in Florida 
who leased four acres of sandy land, planted tomatoes 
and cleared over $2,000. The soil was what is known 
as pine land or upland, and without irrigation, but 
there were that Winter frequent showers, and he pock¬ 
eted his nice little two thousand. Last year he tried 
it again on the same ground and failed utterly, losing 
what he had paid for ground rent, the cost of the to¬ 
mato plants and the cost of the fertilizer. There was 
little rain—many weeks without a drop—and every¬ 
thing withered, but from that one county it is claimed 
that nearly $1,000,000 worth of tomatoes were shipped, 
but they were all grown on the prairie lands or low 
ground that remained moist all through the protracted 
dry spell. If it had been a wet season the prairies 
might have been all under water and the crops drowned 
out. Until we can be provided with infallible forecasts 
of the weather months ahead and with adequate fa¬ 
cilities for the prevention or control of storms, there 
will always be an interesting uncertainty as to how 
the farmer will come out at the end of the year. Wher¬ 
ever the city man thinks he would like to settle in the 
country, let him take his wife along and board a month 
or so in a nearby farmhouse and let the experience and 
observation soak in. J- yates peek. 
r N.-Y.—The city man referred to writes that he 
still believes that the Far West will give him best op¬ 
portunity. ___ 
One man “accepts a situation,” the other “gets a job.” 
On general principles which would you prefer to employ? 
It looks as if the crusade against tuberculous cattle would 
result in much colder stables than are now used—with, 
possibly, blankets for cattle! 
“The dollar above the man!” It may he put there to 
make him climb for it. The trouble is that in his climb he 
never stops to look at the scenery. 
We wish we had this Michigan man’s chance: “Can get 
all the marsh hay we want only one and one-half mile 
away for the cutting. We cut with mower this year and 
hauled full loads from marsh. Why not put our orchards 
under sod culture with marsh hay mulch? 
