1900. 
GRAFT BURBANK PLUMS. 
One of our r • ers in Greene Co., N. Y., 
6ays lie has an orchard of Burbank plum 
trees which has never borne a crop. They 
have been set about eight years, and are 
large, healthy, vigorous-looking trees. Could 
they be grafted to some otlier variety that 
would give a crop and prove of fair quality 
for home use as well as a market variety? 
If so, what variety would be best? IIow 
would they be grafted, in three or four of 
the large limbs or in the trunk? 
It is always better to plant two or 
• three varieties together than a large 
block of any one variety, for the reason 
that many kinds of fruit are unable 
to pollenize themselves, and depend 
on bees, or other insects, and the wind 
to fertilize their blossoms. If there 
are no other varieties than Burbank 
in this orchard it would be well to 
plant Abundance and Red June close 
by, and also try top-working every 
fourth row through the orchard. As a 
rule I find the stone fruits easy to bud, 
but hard to g.aft, and I would try 
both methods, by top-working the main 
branches this Spring, and budding the 
young shoots in August or September. 
I believe Abundance would 1c the best 
variety for this, owing to its immense 
amount of bloom. 
FLOYD Q. WHITE. 
For once you have handed me a 
question I cannot answer. Why the or¬ 
chard of Burbank plum trees referred 
to should never have borne a crop is 
a thing I cannot understand. With us 
this variety is very pro'ductive. It is pos¬ 
sible that the curculio does its work 
so thoroughly when the fruit is just set 
as to cause it all to drop. I know of 
no other solution to give. We have 
been quite successful in grafting other 
varieties of the Japanese, and in some 
instances European varieties on the Bur- 
• bank, but plum grafting is always more 
risky than apple or pear. They should 
be grafted very early, as the buds swell 
early. It might be well perhaps for the 
person making this inquiry to try 
Abundance or Satsuma if he wishes to 
graft. Were I grafting I should select 
three or four of the large limbs, and 
leave the others to carry the sap for the 
coming year. s. d. willard. 
Your reader asks me a question which 
I am at a loss to answer. We once 
planted several hundred Japan plums, 
among them 200 Burbanks. Not liking 
them when fruiting we top-worked 
them to plums of the domestic type, 
principally Fellenberg. We grafted into 
the branches so as to form good heads. 
The scions took well and made a fair 
growth the first year. After that they 
became very feeble and in the end be¬ 
came so worthless that all were re¬ 
moved and their places filled with other 
trees of the Domestica kinds. Judging 
from personal experience and observa¬ 
tion in other cases, I think that if your 
reader will remove the trees and re¬ 
place with some of the Domestica varie¬ 
ties, he will be far more ahead in 10 
years than to try “monkeying” with 
those Japans. A few Japans may be all 
right for family use, but I pity the man 
who puts his good money into a Japan 
orchard for commercial purposes. Ten 
dollars have been sunk where one has 
been made in this much-praised hum¬ 
bug. No Japan plums for me. 
j. s. WOODWARD. 
I never heard before a complaint 
about Burbank not bearing. They wiF 
overbear, and they will rot, but T n 
not imagine a tree of Burbank efu-- 
ing to bear fruit. However, they can 
be grafted, and as the Burbank is a 
Japan, it would not be advisable to 
graft them with another Japan variety, 
and the inquirer would better try Lom¬ 
bard and German Prune, both of which 
are good croppers and good sellers. 
Bradshaw is another good cropper, and 
if a yellow fruit is wanted then Imper¬ 
ial Gage is good. Lombard is best 
for light soils, Bradshaw for either 
heavy or light soil. If his Burbanks 
are eight years old lie must graft in 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
the limbs, putting two grafts in each 
limb, and grafting enough limbs to 
make a good top the first year. The 
second year they should bear some 
fruit, and by the third year such large 
trees should have a full crop on these 
grafts. I am making a guess that his 
Burbanks are on rich soil, and have 
been thoroughly cultivated and fertil¬ 
ized, and have made such rampant 
wood growth that they have failed to 
form fruit buds. Stop cultivation, or 
seed to oats for one season, and check 
growth of wood; in my opinion this 
would have the effect of causing the 
Burbanks to set fruit buds and pro¬ 
duce a crop of fruit. I have known 
this to be the case with the Abundance 
more than once, also with the Chabot, 
which is another rampant grower in 
good soil and under good cultivation. 
After the Japans once bear a full crop 
there is little danger of their over¬ 
growing, and they will then need good 
culture. e. s. black. 
running your land is probably the Chin¬ 
ese species, Lonicera Chinensis. It is 
quite a pest when allowed to gain a foot¬ 
hold, but can be exterminated by close 
mowing, raking up and burning the 
brush, to be followed by deep plowing 
and thoroughly harrowing to get as 
many roots as possible out of the soil. 
If this treatment is followed by cultiva¬ 
tion in potatoes, corn or other hoed crops 
for a season or two the pest is quite 
certain to be eradicated. There is no 
chemical that will kill out the deep-run¬ 
ning roots without ruining the land. 
Destroying Honeysuckle. 
A. II. II., Parkton, Md .—Wliat can I use 
to put on honeysuckle that is running over 
and ruining my land? Please advise what 
to do to kill it out, root and branch, as it 
is becoming a perfect pestilence. 
Ans.—T he honeysuckle that is over¬ 
Contract Orchards.— The Wisconsin 
Horticultural Society gives the story of the 
contract orchard plan of selling trees. The 
Northwestern Nursery and Orchard Com¬ 
pany of St. Joseph, Mich., sent agents 
through Wisconsin offering a strange con¬ 
tract. They offered 172 trees for $180— 
$90 down and the balance in five years. The 
company agreed to prune the trees and re¬ 
place dead ones. You would not think in¬ 
telligent farmers would sign such a con¬ 
tract, yet many of them did. The $90 
which they paid in cash was usually far 
more than the entire outfit of trees was 
worth. Only in a few cases were the trees 
ever pruned or cared for. Some of our read¬ 
ers complained to us. and we wrote the 
company for explanation. We found they 
had left St. Joseph and located at a place 
in Northern Michigan. We have never been 
able to obtain any reply from them. Do 
not, under any circumstances, sign any such 
contract or pay big prices for high-priced 
“novelties.” 
The Telephone, the Trolley and 
the Rural JVEail Delivery bring 1 you 
everything you need from the city 
except 
The FARMERS’ GARDEN 
A Seed Drill and Wheel Hoe 19 In¬ 
dispensable—not only in a village 
garden but on largest farms. 
Farmers should grow all manner 
of vegetables and “live on the fat of 
the land.’* Should provide succu- 
lentroots for Cattle, S wi ne, Poultry, 
and save high priced feed 
stuff. Great labor-sav¬ 
ing tools of special 
value for thehome 
as well as the 
market gar¬ 
den. Send 
for free 
book. 
331 
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■FERTILIZERS! 
TANKAGE 
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$12.00 per ton 
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Delivered freight prepaid to any railroad 
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Manufactured by 
AMERICAN REDUCTION COMPANY 
OF PITTSBURG, PA. 
entertainment 
By entertainment we do not mean that which you obtain from books, magazines or 
pictures. We mean the kind offered by the theatre, the concert or the opera. 
You get such entertainment occasionally, but you go a long way for it, you pay a 
good price for it, and you often find that it is not worth the time, the price or the effort 
You work in the country and it is usually long hours. The time you have for enter¬ 
tainment is short, or at least made lip of short intervals. 
At night, for instance, there is an hour or two between supper and bedtime. You can 
go out; you can go to a neighbor’s or you can go to town. 
But you generally go to bed; not that you need this extra hour or two of sleep but 
because there is nothing entertaining, diverting or informing that you can enjoy without 
more effort than you care to exert. 
If at such times you could put on your slippers, light your pipe, lean back in your 
while ? 1Sten t0 g0 ° d mUS1C ’ a S ° 0d S ° ng ° r an amusin S story, wouldn’t it be worth 
That is the idea back of the Edison Phonograph. It collects the songs of the best 
singers and the music of the best bands and orchestras and spreads them broadcast through¬ 
out the homes of the country. ° 
EDISON 
PHONOGRAPH 
is a wonderful thing. It seems commonplace because it is no longer new, but it does what 
no other instrument does. It carries the talent of the world’s greatest artists into the home 
and places it at the disposal of whoever cares to listen. 
The Edison Phonograph is Mr. Thomas A. Edi¬ 
son’s development of the sound-reproducing idea 
which he invented. It is made under his personal 
supervision and lias the benefit of all of" his im¬ 
provements. 
Among its exclusive advantages are its inde¬ 
structible reproducing point which never needs 
to be changed; its long-running, silent steel 
spring motor, most essential to brilliant work; 
its sensitive cylinder Records, famous for 
their sweetness and richness of tone and for 
their faithful reproduction of a singing voice or 
the notes of instruments ; its large, spe¬ 
cially made horn, which brings out every 
note or word with great force and clear¬ 
ness; and its new Amberol Records, , 
playing twice as long as the regular 
Edison Records and offering selections 
heretofore impossible because of their 
length. 
I he dealer in the city where you trade will 
gladly demonstrate the Edison Phonograph if 
you will call, or send you a catalogue giving 
styles and prices if you write. 
We will send you this book free 
on request 
A home is a home whether it is in the city or 
the country. We have prepared a handsomely 
illustrated booklet called “The Edison Phono¬ 
graph and the Home.” It tells what the 
Phonograph brings into a home—your home 
We Want Good Live Dealers to 
sell Edison Phonographs j n every 
town where we are not now well repre¬ 
sented. Dealers having established 
stores should write at once to 
_ National Phonograph Company 
Clew. 172 Lakeside Ave., Orange, N. J. 
