THE RURAIs NEW-YORKER 
Ruralisms 
Brazilian Flour Corn. —Maize or 
Indian corn, the greatest horticultural 
gift of the New World to civilized man, 
and the cereal only second in world¬ 
wide importance to wheat, is an ex¬ 
tremely variable plant, the origin being 
lost in the mist of antiquity. Some 
authorities think maize was gradually 
developed from Teosinte, an immense 
forage grass much grown in Mexico, 
and others that the original wild maize 
progenitor distinct from Teosinte 
may still exist! in Central America. 
Maize cultivation undoubtedly co-existed 
with the beginning of the ancient civil¬ 
ization of America. Certain types of 
pre-bistoric corn still exist, though 
maize has altered under cultivation dur¬ 
ing historic times in the most astonish¬ 
ing manner, being particularly subject 
to modification by systematic selection 
of acceptable types by man. Distinct 
as are the diminutive popcorns, the 
sugary table corns, the flint corns of the 
North and the gigantic dent corns of 
the West and South, they plainly show 
their common origin and recent modifi¬ 
cation. The husk or pod corn, in which 
each kernel has a separate husk, the 
whole ear being inclosed in the com¬ 
mon or usual husk, and the soft-ker- 
neled or flour corns grown by the Mex¬ 
ican border Indians are to be taken 
as representatives of the primitive types. 
The so-called Brazilian flour corn, an 
ear of which is shown in natural size, 
Fig. 433, page 753, belongs to the lat¬ 
ter class. It has several times been 
boomed as a valuable novelty, and is 
still grown as a horticultural curio. It 
is claimed to come from South Amer¬ 
ica, and to have merit both as a “sweet*’ 
or table corn and as a source of white 
meal, almost comparable to wheat flour 
for baking purposes. There is a basis 
for these claims, but not enough to 
enab'e it to compete with specialized 
standard varieties. The plant is tall 
and leafy, and in our experience a bet¬ 
ter drought-resister than most corn 
varieties. The table quality is tolerable 
in- the tender, milky stage, but this 
passes into the starchy and tasteless 
condition even more rapidly than or¬ 
dinary field corns. The meal is white 
and floury, but deficient in flavor when 
cooked or baked. As it is practically 
all starch, containing only a trace of 
oil and gluten, it cannot be baked in 
loaves without liberal admixture of 
wheat flour. The writer was quite 
taken with the Brazilian corn some 
years ago, and had many careful ex¬ 
periments made. The conclusion was 
arrived at that it is less useful for or¬ 
dinary' maize purposes than almost any 
other strong-growing variety. When 
crossed with Stowfll’s Evergreen or its 
red-stalked sub-variety known as Ruby 
Evergreen sweet corn, the Brazilian 
gave rise to interesting tall and very 
leafy plants bearing’ “roasting ears” 
of sweet, rich quality, keeping in con¬ 
dition as long as most table corns. Un¬ 
der proper selection a good drought- 
resistant variety might have been se¬ 
cured, but the work was not efficiently 
carried out. The best of the cross¬ 
bred varieties had wrinkled kernels 
like ordinary sweet corn. w. v. f. 
The Guayba. —Consul Giding, of 
Montevideo, describes a plant called 
“guayba” (Feijoa Sellowiana), as fol¬ 
lows : “In a general way the plant re- 
semb’es a cactus. The bright red flow¬ 
ers form at the edge of the thick, 
fleshy leaves, at the base of which flow¬ 
ers the fruit is formed. The fruit re¬ 
sembles and is about the size of a fig, 
some being round and others olive¬ 
shaped, green, red, or blue in color, 
and covered with fine, sharp, irritating 
nettles which disappear under cultiva¬ 
tion. The outer skin of the fruit is 
similar to that of the fig, but firmer. 
The interior is filled with a most lus¬ 
cious red, white, or blue sweet pulp, the 
flavor resembling that of the musk- 
melon, while an odor emanates from the 
unbroken fruit like that of a fresh ap¬ 
ple.” It is said that the plant is being 
tested at Los Angeles, Cal. It is a 
tropical plant, similar to the guava. 
Girdling Fruit Trees. —Several 
questions have been asked about the 
plan of girdling apple trees in order to 
bring them to early fruiting. This 
seems to be a local practice, and the 
following note from a Missouri reader 
tells how it is done in Arkansas: 
Allow mo to suggest a fact or two on 
ring-barking apple trees to make them bear. 
This will be an answer 1o your correspond¬ 
ent on page 041. If you want to destroy 
any tree cut out a wide circular ring of 
bark. If you want to change a nut 'tree 
into a new variety, cut a narrow ring, fit 
into that space a ring of exactly the same 
size with a bud or two on it, fitting (the 
green edges to each other and wax well, 
and your tree will continue to grow, and 
also will take care of its new buds, and 
lo. you will have a nut tree after your own 
heart from that parent stock. Now for 
facts alKuit making an apple tree bear: 
n Arkansas this method is practiced, and 
this is the information your correspondent 
is after. Take a sharp penknife and cut 
cigar-shaped strips up and down from the 
branches to the ground, say one or two 
inches wide, and peel the bark off. Two 
or three narrow strips will leave on 
three-fourths of the old bark, and the tree 
sets to work to fill in that spacing with 
new bark. Experience will tell a person 
how far to go in that locality. This is 
the way trees are made to bear in Arkansas. 
H. H. 
Farm Rose Gardens. —Mr. T. E. 
Martin, of Monroe County, N. Y., 
writes on July 8: 
“Roses did well and are continuing 
so. To-day the Crimson Rambler is 
in full bloom, with new Philadelphia a 
few days earlier. Ruby Queen com¬ 
menced about 10 days ago, with sweet 
Dorothy Perkins and Baltimore Belle 
nicely opening. Frau Karl Druschki is 
the queen of them all- A rose of rare 
wondrous purity and, also a continuous 
bloomer, hardy and vigorous grower. 
I cannot refrain from mentioning Soleil 
d’Or and Prince Camille de Rohan; 
both grand, the first yellow and sec¬ 
ond dark red beauties. Several other 
varieties are nearly as good. We 
bother only with the hardy roses, and 
think we have the cream of the rose 
world. It is comical to see some peo¬ 
ple ‘rubber’ while passing.” 
Our own climbing roses have well 
covered the end of the house and at¬ 
tract great attention from passersby. 
In our country roses and vines are ac¬ 
knowledged to give permanent value to 
farm property, for a house well covered 
with them attracts the best class of 
buyers. 
A New “Grafting Industry.”— 
Some of our people have received the 
following letter: 
Having been advised that you may be 
interested, I beg to inclose a brief descrip¬ 
tion of a remarkable book on grapes. 
Through an agent in tlie northern part of 
the State I have secured a few copies, and 
'though of recent publication it is already 
scarce. Price $5. If remittance accom¬ 
panies order, will send express prepaid. 
The book will undoubtedly double in value 
within a year. 
This “remarkable book” turns out to 
be “The Grapes of New York,” a fine 
volume, issued by the State and sup¬ 
posed to be given away to fruit grow¬ 
ers. No wonder one man who got the 
letter writes: 
It would appear that a now industry has 
been made possible through the free dis¬ 
tribution of such books as the above, by 
the Legislature. I wonder bow many 
“agents” have been employed, such as are 
mentioned in the enclosed letter. 
What was intended as a very helpful 
piece of legislation is fast degenerating 
into a slick scheme for “graft.” There 
were a few politicians sharp enough to 
see that these books would one day be 
valuable. They got all the books they 
could and waited. Now they seem to 
be reaping their harvest, s ; nce the Gov¬ 
ernor vetoes appropriations for print¬ 
ing more of the books. It is a shame 
that such useful volumes should be 
used in this way. The books on grapes 
and apples are nearly indispensable to 
students of fruit culture. 
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906-926 Lock Street, CINCINNATI, OHIO 
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N 
ATURAL 
August 21, 
Fine-Ground 
Phosphate 
The Reliable Land Builder. 
WHEN BREAKING YOUR CLOVER OR STUBBLE 
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at not over a cost of $1.25 per acre per crop. Be sure to 
use ONLY the NATURAL product. “Kiln Burned" Ground 
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FERTILIZER LIME 
WALTON QUARRIES, Harrisburg. I’a. 
APPLE BARRELS 
npu „ RJcV fron of son-touched early apples 
1116 Dig A/TOp from Delaware follows 
closely tlie big crop of strawberries. General in¬ 
formation for fruit buyers and also farm oppor¬ 
tunities for home-seekers furnished by 
State Board of Agriculture, Dover, Del. 
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INTELLIGENT SPRAYING 
The Rural New-Yorker stated editorially Sept. 19th, 1908:—* The Rural Grounds now appear to be free from 
scale tor the first time m 12 years. * * * it has been a long fight, excessively discouraging until the soluble oils came to the 
iree years ago. I he prospect brightened at the first trial of these handy preparations, and repeated use seems to 
ulted in victory. Spraying was omitted this year. 
rescue three 
have resi 
66 
SCALECIDE’ 
Sh?r$il? ore j" J. hree 1 years J t i ia 5 Line-Sulphur and other “dopes” did in nine. 
BKICES .—In barrels and half barrels, 53c. per gallon; 10 gallon cans, $6.00; 
few * * 7I-1*/ 1 h vs r*i o4ia*/v<^ a. 
If you want cheap oils, our 1 
Are you still in the Lime-Sulphur ranks ? 
._; 5 gallon cans, $3.25; 1 gallon cans.Sl.bO. 
Orchard Insurance. 
m - - ” at 30c. per gallon is the equal of anything else. 
B. G. DEALT CO., MFG. CHEMISTS, 50 CHURCH ST., NEW YORK CITY. 
Send far Hook let, 
“ CARBOLEINE ’ 
UI8DD A prve 
GRASS AND GRAIN FERTILIZER 
The Famous “ HAY MAKER ” For Fall Seeding 
Our Almanac tells all about it. 
Sent free to any address. 
THE ROGERS & HUBBARD CO., 
MANUFACTURERS OF THE HUBBARD FERTILIZERS, 
MIDDLETOWN, CONN. 
