1909. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
391 
A TREE FAKER AT WORK. 
We are sending- name of a concern whose repre¬ 
sentative has just called on my employer, and for 
the sum of $8.50 agrees to treat the trees with a 
solution of some secret formula that will destroy 
insects and all scale, and they agree, according to 
the bill rendered, to keep same trees free from scale 
for the period of two years. The agent simply takes 
MARKETING IN NEW YORK’S ITALIAN QUARTER. 
Fig. 163. 
a pail and puts in some liquid of mysterious sort, 
and then fills the pail up with water; uses a broom 
and goes over the trunk of the tree about five feet 
from the ground, claiming that was all that was 
needed. The solution in question is supposed to con¬ 
tain mercury, and is of a dark brown color. Please 
let me know what you think about this, and if you 
know this man, who I believe is a faker. His bill, 
which he receipted and signed, bears the name of 
Milford Nursery Co., Milford, Del., Philadelphia, 
Pa,, and Newark, N. J. I think a good deal of 
the sound trouncing that you give these rogues when 
they become known. This agent signs himself W. 
W: Pullen. H. G. A. 
Bergen Co., N. J. 
R. N.-Y.—We have denounced this fellow before. 
He has been working confiding Jerseymen for more 
than a year. Our information is that the only 
“Milford Nursery Company” is grafted on this man’s 
card. There was once such a concern, but it went 
into bankruptcy. We understand that Pullen is the 
son of one of the members of this old firm. He 
is true to his name in hauling in the money. Year 
after year he has been hunting suckers in eastern 
New Jersey with good success. He has been ex¬ 
posed in the Hoboken papers and by letter again 
and again, yet he still finds innocents (we might 
use a shorter word) to credit his story. 
This old game of painting a tree so that some 
substance will work into the sap to kill insects and 
disease is the best playing card of the horticultural 
fakes. You might just about as soon expect to 
make hair grow on a bald head by soaking the 
feet in brine, but people who ought to know bet¬ 
ter actually pay such scamps for “treating” their 
trees. We have little sympathy for people of or¬ 
dinary common sense who, after all the warnings 
that have been given, persist in employing such 
fellows as this Pullen. He will probably remain 
at large and reap his harvest until some one has 
him arrested for obtaining money under false pre¬ 
tenses. Nothing in the laws of New Jersey will 
prevent this Pullen from painting his stuff on trees 
if he can get people to pay him for doing so. The 
laws of New Jersey can do little for people who 
violate the laws of common sense. 
WHERE EASTER LILIES GROW. 
South of the gulf stream and 600 miles from New 
York, is a group of coral islands called “The 
Bermudas.” They were discovered by Juan Bermu¬ 
dez about 1522, while en route from Spain to Cuba. 
Observing that vegetation was luxuriant and food 
for animals plentiful, he conceived the idea of leav¬ 
ing a number of hogs on the largest island. It 
seems that nature had a more poetic use for Bermuda 
than hog colonization, for as the seamen were about 
to land the animals a fierce storm arose, causing 
them to abandon the project. The islands were 
next visited by an Englishman named May, and 
probably very much against his will, too, for his 
vessel was driven ashore and wrecked. The party 
remained on the islands five months, during which 
time they built a large boat of native cedar, in which 
they set sail for the mainland. Storms seem to 
have been responsible for our early knowledge of 
these beautiful islands, for in 1609, 16 years after 
May’s unfortunate experience, another Englishman, 
Sir George Somers, was wrecked on the second larg¬ 
est island of the group. At this time he took 
formal possession of the islands in the name of 
England, and, again, like his predecessor May, he 
and his crew built two boats of native cedar (going 
May one better). In these two boats they sailed 
westward to Virginia. On St. George’s Island a 
memorial tablet has been erected bearing the fol¬ 
lowing inscription: “Near this spot was interred 
in the year 1610 the heart of the heroic Admiral, 
Sir George Somers, Kt., who nobly sacrificed his 
life to carry succor to the infant and suffering 
plantation, now the State of Virginia. To preserve 
his fame to future ages, near the scene of his 
memorable shipwreck of 1609, the Governor and 
Commander-in-Chief of this Colony, for the time 
being, caused this tablet to be erected, 1876.” 
For many years the islands were used by England 
as a penal colony, but as the misuse of such a 
beautiful spot became apparent, the idea was aban¬ 
doned, and the convicts who chose to remain were 
granted a pardon, and a portion of land allotted to 
each on which to make a fresh start in Jife. Many 
of their descendants still own and cultivate ex¬ 
tensive lily and onion farms. The hog having 
failed to gain a foothold, the plebeian onion became 
VIEW IN BERMUDA LILY FIELD. Fig. 164. 
the staple industry and for generations millions of 
bushels of •Bermuda onions were exported to Eng¬ 
land and America. Between 1870 and 1880, the 
onion encountered an opponent in the lily, and now 
one can ride for miles over beautiful natural roads 
of soft coral formation, through fields of the pure 
white flowers, growing in such profusion that the 
ground is not visible—nothing but masses of white 
and green. There are over 200 farms devoted ex¬ 
clusively to the lily, some being 30 to 40 acres 
in extent. Travelers, as well as natives, become 
very tired of the heavy perfume, which can be 
discerned a mile or more away, the odor of the 
onion, which is still raised to some extent, being 
a welcome change. The fragrance of a bunch of 
lilies delicately scenting a room or church is very 
different from the overpowering fragrance exhaled 
from an immense farm. The natives, however, are 
quite resigned to the heavy perfume, knowing that 
acre for acre, the growing of the lily is three or 
four times as profitable as if planted in onions, po¬ 
tatoes, or fruits. 
Lily bulbs were first brought to the islands by a 
man named Harris, from Japan, to which country 
they had been brought from their ancient native 
home, China, and now the Bermuda lily, known 
as Lilium Harrisii, is the blossom which adorns 
and sanctifies thousands of American churches and 
homes on Easter Sunday. a. d. dart. 
TOP-WORKING NEWTOWN PIPPINS. 
The Newtown Pippin, from the experience of 
some of my friends and neighbors, is a rather hard 
variety to get straight. Also, it is a hard one on 
the nurserymen, as the percentage of first-class trees 
is much below the average. With these two facts 
before us I think there is no doubt about the top¬ 
working after setting being the best plan. In 1896 
we set Northern Spy, the following Spring top- 
worked by grafting (cleft, two scions) without the 
loss of a single tree. The work was done by an 
expert. Our first crop was in 1907, about 1 T A barrel 
to the tree, selling for $6 f.o.b., Newburgh. This 
field was planted to peaches at the time the apples 
were set, and we had four crops and two light pick¬ 
ings of peaches, the crop of apples coming the 
second year after trees were pulled. This orchard 
was planted at the time Mr. Willard and Mr. Powell 
were advocating Spy as a sure preventive of sun- 
scald and collar blight, but neglected to say that 
they should be root-grafted, as we have lost several 
trees from collar blight or rot. The nursery work¬ 
ing was done in the usual way, leaving six inches 
or more of the seedling stock between the Spy 
body and the roots, and this, I believe, nearly bal¬ 
ances what we gained by using the Spy body. 
Orange Co., N. Y. e. w. barnes. 
GRASS SEEDING IN HUDSON VALLEY. 
I have a piece of rye seeded down last Fall, and would 
like to sow some pasture grass in the Spring. Would you 
advise me what kinds to sow, and how much to the acre? 
I also have a piece of ground that is very poor that I 
planted with corn last season. I would like to sow oats 
in Spring, and seed down with rye in Fall. I have no 
manure to use with oats, but will have with rye. Will 
you advise me what to sow with oats to enrich the 
ground? o. t. s. 
Catskill, N. Y. 
An excellent mixture for an ordinary soil is five 
pounds Orchard grass, 20 pounds Kentucky Blue 
grass, 30 pounds Perennial rye grass, 10 pounds Red 
fescue, 10 pounds White clover, and 20 pounds 
Red-top. Sow 35 pounds to the acre. Much of 
this seed is light, and you will get a better stand 
if you sow half of it each way, and run over it 
with a weeder or slant-tooth harrow. It will do 
the rye no harm, and be of great value to the seed. 
A roller, too, will help to compact the soil about the 
seed, but don’t use it when the ground is wet. 
These seeds will give a succession of grasses, and 
are worth much more for pasture than Red clover 
and Timothy, in addition to affording more feed 
and permanent pasture. They can be furnished by 
any reliable seedsman. No one can afford to pat¬ 
ronize any others. Be sure to get Kentucky Blue 
grass, not Canada. The formqy is most valuable, 
the latter of doubtful worth. It sells for half 
as much, and is worth infinitely less. Too often 
the latter is sold as Kentucky, hence the necessity 
of dealing with a first-class house. If the soil is 
not very rich a good formula for oats is 3 1 / 2 per 
cent nitrogen, 8 to 10 per cent phosphoric acid, and 
2 l / 2 per cent potash. Use from 200 to 300 pounds 
per acre. Such a fertilizer will cost from $25 to 
$30 a ton, if purchased already compounded. One 
cannot be sure of the sources of plant food when 
so buying. Better buy the ingredients as follows, 
and make your own, thus saving at least $5 per ton 
and knowing exactly the sources and availability of 
IN AN OHIO PEACH ORCHARD. Fig. 165. 
the plant food: Nitrate of soda. 300 pounds; tank¬ 
age, 400 pounds; acid phosphate, 1,200 pounds; 
muriate of potash, 100 pounds. Rather than buy the 
ordinary 1-8-2 goods for $22 or $23, where you 
only get two pounds of nitrogen on a whole acre 
when 200 pounds are used, and probably part of 
that from a source not available—use a 12-4 goods 
at $18. The latter you can make from 1,840 pounds 
acid phosphate and 160 pounds muriate of potash. 
EDWARD VAN ALSTYNE. 
