2 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
January 4, 
one thorough spraying of emulsion or lime-sulphur 
with good cultivation to stimulate its growth, and 
expect a fair crop of fruit the first year and a better 
one the second. But ordinarily the owner of a 
neglected orchard in offering to sell would not con¬ 
sider the orchard added to the value of the farm. 
In treating this scaly orchard be thorough but don’t 
undertake to treat it with any of those expensive 
preparations whose principal recommendations are 
the testimonials that are well paid for. 
Niagara Co., N. Y. wiu.ard hopkins. 
t Has Faith in an Orchard. 
It is a difficult question to answer intelligently 
without more data to guide one in forming an opinion. 
However, I will answer in the affirmative, qualifying 
that by assuming that the orchard in question is of 
desirable varieties, well-located and that the trees are 
in a fairly good physical condition outside of this 
infestation. The reason for my opinion is based on 
my great faith in soluble oil as a most efficient con¬ 
troller of the San Jose scale. T believe that such 
an orchard as is under consideration could be 
brought under control in at least three years and in 
all probability much sooner. As to its value compared 
with a perfectly normal orchard, in my opinion it 
would not be worth more than one-tenth as much as 
one absolutely free from this great pest. 
Massachusetts. e. cyrus miller. 
fore. We had the farm some time before we came 
in July—and on June 12 planted a piece of land 
with Green Mountain potatoes; dug these September 
12—getting a yield of something less than 300 bushels 
to the acre. The tubers were very large and hand¬ 
some. W hat we did not want for our use were sold 
readily in the adjoining town. When E. C. Miller, of 
Massachusetts, gave a talk in October before the 
Exeter Horticultural Society, I met him the next day 
and had a long talk with him. He approved of the 
Depends Upon the Damage. 
It depends entirely on how much damage has been 
done whether I would accept it as a gift. Tf simply 
badly infested with little or no injury, it would be 
only a question of expense of spraying and probably 
a wait of a year or maybe two for a full fruit crop; 
then I would take the chance, other conditions being 
satisfactory. If the trees were badly poisoned I 
should not care to take the risk. Leaving out of the 
question entirely the value of the land on which the 
trees are growing and bearing in mind that the trees 
free from scale are likely to become infested, probably 
the difference in cost of spraying the orchards may 
only be spraying, interest and expense loss of two years, 
and thereafter the two orchards will cost the same 
to care for and return the same net profits. If no 
permanent injury has been done by scale, then the 
difference in present worth of the two orchards may 
be figured on a basis of loss of interest on invest¬ 
ment and loss of crops. As the trees may bear for 
K)0 years or more it would hardly be fair to deduct 
the whole of such a loss, and as the crops of fruit 
are largely dependent on the man who manages the 
orchard the question becoms largely a personal equa¬ 
tion. Suppose the bare land worth $50 per acre, the 
healthy orchard $100 per acre, perhaps $75 would he 
the worth of the scaly orchard. In the wrong hands, 
however, it would be worth even less than the value 
of the bare land because of the cost of removing the 
trees. s. H. derby. 
Delaware. 
THE WINGATE-AN EXCELLENT APPLE. 
SECTION. OF WINGATE APPLE. Fig. 3. 
plan of planting potatoes in the young orchard, to 
be followed by clover as a cover crop, to be turned 
under in the following Spring. He did not believe 
in fillers among the apples trees, because people did 
not get them out of the way when they should do so. 
His practice is apples only in the ground and grow¬ 
ing crops among the trees, so that there is good 
cultivation every year, and good fertilization. The 
photographs he had of these trees at various ages 
on his own place showed great growth. We are 
raising poultry, and the old orchard is just the place 
for the growing chickens, near the house and easy 
of access. Horace b. parker. 
New Hampshire 
R. N.-Y.—A very handsome apple, smooth and glos¬ 
sy. Color, very rich deep crimson on yellow ground, 
darkest on sunny side. Elesh, white, tender and 
fragrant; agreeable, sub-acid; quality very good; core 
small. Pair-sized specimens are shown at Pigs. 3 and 4. 
THE WINTER BANANA APPLE. 
The answer given by II. hi. Van Deman to the in¬ 
quiry of J. L. P., page 874, indicates that there is some 
confusion concerning the identity of the Flory or 
Winter Banana apple. According to the Government 
bulletin on “The Nomenclature of the Apple,” l-'lory is 
a synonym for Banana, the variety possibly being 
given the name of Flory by some, after Mr. Flory, 
on whose farm grew the original tree near Logans- 
port, Ind. This bulletin also lists a Banana apple of 
New Jersey origin and also a Summer Banana. The 
T send sample of a local variety of apple known here 
as the “Wingate.” This name comes from the orig- 
nator, Mr. Edward Wingate. These apples were 
grown on old trees on our farm—these trees must 
be 50 years old and have been sadly neglected, they 
are in a field used for hay, and the plowing of this 
land in Nevember is the first time the sod has been 
turned under for 15 years. These apples are very 
and placed in a dish on the dining room 
the room with fragrance. These trees 
all over this season, and the portion 
bear was very full. Please notice the 
n—the small seeds and the firmness of 
My son is so pleased with them he is 
to graft this variety into some trees we are 
g over, and will also breed some seedling 
les in the nursery row. 
did not come to this farm until the middle 
July, so we have had a lot to do. On our 
we found in the house cellar some apples 
firm—just ordinary keeping. We have 
s now on hand, and, next Summer, hope 
age of the same. This is a local 
r as we know. 
rchard of some three acres— 
d Sweets, and along the 
re a number of Graven- 
le trees 
ing 
work. 
Bald- 
-pl an ting 
rtilizer 
of 
ed 
THE WINGATE APPLE. Fig. 4. 
Indiana or Winter Banana has never received much 
honor near its own home, due largely to the fact 
that it is not well known. This year, however, it re¬ 
ceived honorable mention at the society’s meeting by 
the director of the State experiment orchard. 
prom my personal observation of this variety in 
an eight-year-old orchard it might be fairly well de¬ 
scribed by calling it an improved Maiden Blush. In 
beauty and quality I consider it worthy of the favor¬ 
able mention made of it by Prof. Van Deman in the 
article referred to above. As to season of ripening, 
it is a late Fall apple here. T have been informed 
by parties acquainted with the original tree that it had 
the fault of dropping its fruit badly before the same 
was mature. This same fault I have noticed on my 
young trees. The Banana seems to be a good keeper, 
remaining in good condition here last year until Feb¬ 
ruary. It is reported that Banana apples grown on 
the Pacific slope have sold for $12 per box the past 
season. As each box contained about 60 apples this 
would mean that these apples brought 20 cents apiece 
at wholesale. f. m. 
Indiana. 
“YELLOW” LITERATURE IN AGRICULTURE 
The criticism under the above caption, page S39, by 
Prof. East, of the Connecticut Agricultural Experi¬ 
ment Station, is much needed, timely and should 
prove verj- helpful to many of your readers, but 
your critic is quite unjust in placing blame for some 
of the false teachings so exclusively upon either Mr. 
Collins or his publishers. Prof. East says: 
Mon who are investigating problems in relation to asjri- 
cultural science are often called upon to publish tentative 
conclusions in technical journals in order that criticism may 
be obtained and the final truth brought nearer: but broad¬ 
cast distribution to the non-teohnical public of exaggerated 
accounts of such work only serves to bring their efforts into 
ridicule 
Prom this it is to be inferred that the author of the 
book has gained his misinformation from unripe 
statements in technical journals and publications. It 
is much to be regretted, however, that the statement 
of Mr. Collins, quoted from his page 106, is essen¬ 
tially the expressed teaching, not only of Farmers’ 
Bulletin No. 257 of the U. S. Department of Agri¬ 
culture, but of earlier and later publications from the 
same source. Nor is this the most lamentable phase 
of this serious state of things. The statement as 
quoted is essentially untrue when judged by the 
standpoint of present knowledge, both scientific and 
practical, and about one year ago Dr. Hopkins, of the 
Illinois Agricultural Experiment Station, with the 
moral courage to speak his convictions before a scien¬ 
tific body in Washington, took occasion, with great 
force, but fairness, carefully to point out the lack of 
foundation in observed fact and in practical ex¬ 
perience, for the teachings promulgated in Bulletin 
No. 257; at the same time calling attention to the 
serious results which must follow the publication of 
such undemonstrated conclusions in the form of 
popular bulletins intended especially for farmers and 
for the class of readers to which the book under 
review appeals. But now there has been published 
from the office of the Secretary of Agriculture Cir¬ 
cular No 22. under the signature of the Assistant Sec¬ 
retary, himself long an investigator at the Minnesota 
Experiment Station, a reply to Dr. Hopkins’ criti¬ 
cisms which plainly is intended to uphold some, at 
least, of the teachings criticised. In regard to one 
line of criticism bearing directly upon the quotation 
from page 106, cited by Prof. East in your columns, 
Prof. Hayes concludes as follows: 
I have investigated (his charge, and have gone over the 
published records of the Kothamsted Slation. T find that 
(be statement of Prof. Whitney as found in Farmers’ Bul- 
b'lin. No. 257, is fully justified bv said, records and I con¬ 
clude that die criticism of Dr. Hopkins is no) warranted. 
And yet the Director of the Rothamsted Station 
himself has expressly stated that in his judgment the 
teachings of the experiment referred to are directly 
contrary to Prof. Whitney’s idea as expressed in 
Bulletin No. 257, and upheld by the Assistant Secre¬ 
tary of Agriculture. Prof. Whitney’s fundamental 
contention is that almost all soils contain sufficient 
plant food for good crops, and that this supply will 
be indefinitely maintained; that stable manure and 
green manure, together with mineral fertilizers, act 
to neutralize poisonous substances excreted by the 
roots of crops or soil organisms, rather than as plant 
food, an abundance of which is held to be always 
present. He contends further that by suitable till¬ 
age and a proper rotation of crops the toxic prin¬ 
ciples may he kept below the danger limit and the 
fertility of soils indefinitely maintained, and it is in 
support of this view that he has cited, in Bulletin 
257, some of the results of the celebrated Rotham¬ 
sted Experiment Station, as referred to above. 
We feel, therefore, that while Prof. East’s criticisms 
on Mr. Collins’ hook are timely and needed, he is not 
fully justified in laying the blame for unsafe teaching 
entirely upon the author and his publisher. lie must 
know quite well the source of Mr. Collins’ informa¬ 
tion, and could hardly expect him or the publishers 
to do otherwise than give sanction to assertions so 
fundamental, coming from the U. S. Department of 
Agriculture, and should have placed his criticism 
where it really belongs. It is because elementary 
teachers, in agriculture as in other lines, are com¬ 
pelled to take their information second hand, and 
because practical farmers must do likewise except as 
they are able to judge of error by their own ex¬ 
perience, that Dr. Hopkins was thoroughly justified 
in taking the stand he has regarding so vital a 
problem as soil fertility. It is because of this funda¬ 
mental fact, too, that the course taken by the As¬ 
sistant Secretary of Agriculture, in publishing Cir¬ 
cular No. 22 in support of what is recognized the 
world over as views unsupported by either practical 
experience or experimental demonstration, is so much 
to be regretted. Tt cannot he regarded as a legitimate 
function of our National Department of Agriculture 
to publish the purely speculative views of its scienti¬ 
fic staff in the form of popular bulletins for the in¬ 
struction of practical men. institute conductors and 
rural school teachers, and the agricultural press, whose 
influence is far reaching, so vital and so powerful, 
should take a firm stand against such a policy. 
F. H. KING. 
