398 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
March 25, 
SEEDLING APPLE AND PEAR. 
J. 11. M 7 ., Lambertville, N. J .—Where can 
1 get apple seed and pear seed of the best 
kind, as I wish to plant a small nursery 
this Spring? What kind should I ask for? 
1 wish to bud all Winter apples with Rome 
Reauty, Stay man, Mammoth Black Twig, 
York Imperial and Willow Twig, if good 
kinds for this part of the country; if not 
strike out the poor kinds. I have a small 
orchard I wish to sow with buckwheat for 
chickens. Will it do to turn hogs in to 
help themselves if there should be more 
than chickens need? 
Ans.—J. H. W. spaks of apple and 
pear seeds, but I presume that he means 
seedlings. He should purchase stocks 
with branched roots to bud on, and 
they should be one year old, and caliper 
3-16-inch and up at the collar. Either 
French or American grown stocks are 
good, the main point being not to get 
old and stunted stocks. If only a small 
quantity is wanted, they can generally 
be had of nurserymen who grow fruit 
stock, as they order in large quantities 
for themselves, and may have a small 
surplus that they would dispose of. An 
inquiry sent to any nurseryman adver¬ 
tising in The R. N.-Y. will no doubt get 
the stocks desired. The Rome Beauty is 
one of the very best apples we have in 
New Jersey, a large yellow apple beau¬ 
tifully shaded with red, is a good re¬ 
liable bearer in the orchard, and seems 
to be a favorite wherever planted. Stay- 
man’s Winesap seems to have suddenly 
sprung into prominence in a very short 
time, after being kept in the background 
for many years. Thousands of trees of 
this variety have been planted in the 
past few years in New Jersey and else¬ 
where. There will be thousands more 
planted this coming Spring, but some of 
our best New Jersey growers are not so 
enthusiastic about it now as they were 
before they fruited it. Stayman is a fair 
sized dark dull red apple of excellent 
quality, tree a good grower and an early 
bearer. York Imperial is a good apple 
where it succeeds, and like every other 
variety, has its strong friends and also 
enemies. Mammoth Black Twig is a 
large dark red apple, a good keeper 
and good quality, bpt from every grower 
I hear the same report about this va¬ 
riety; that it is a very shy bearer, and 
unprofitable on that account. The Wil¬ 
low Twig is not a desirable or profitable 
apple for New Jersey. J. H. W. should 
find out what varieties are doing well 
with apple growers in his section and 
decide for himself which are the best 
varieties for him to grow. Strictly Win¬ 
ter varieties or late keeping apples are 
scarce; many of our very best varieties 
have to be kept in cold storage, if they 
are to be kept through February and 
March. 
The orchard that J. H. W. talks of 
seeding to buckwheat for chicken and 
bog pasture would not appeal to me, as 
I would not like to sow any grain 
crop in an orchard with the intention 
of allowing the grain to ripen. If it is 
intended for a green crop alone, to fur¬ 
nish green food for the chickens, then I 
would advise sowing Crimson clover or 
rye. These would make Winter protec¬ 
tion for the soil, and could be turned 
under early in the Spring, and the or¬ 
chard kept cultivated until July, when it 
can be seeded again. Hogs are apt to 
girdle the trees and tear up the roots 
unless the bodies of the trees are pro¬ 
tected from their teeth, and the ground 
be protected from their nose by strong 
wire rings. The plan that most of our 
large orchardists follow, is to plow early 
in Spring, and then with a Cutaway, 
spring-tooth and smoothing -harrows 
keep the ground thoroughly cultivated 
and pulverized, forming a dust mulch 
that retains the moisture and insures 
a healthy growth and the bringing to 
perfection the crop of fruit. After July 
1 to 15 cultivation is stopped and clover, 
rye or some cover crop is planted, while 
others allow the weeds to grow and pro¬ 
tect the soil without any cost for seed. 
E. S. BLACK. 
WOOD ASHES AND THE POTATO SCAB. 
I undertook some experiments, commenc¬ 
ing in the Spring of 1908 and continuing 
three seasons, namely, 1908, 1909 and 1910, 
for the purpose of determining to what ex¬ 
tent, if any, the application of wood ashes 
would cause potato scab. The ground that 
was selected for the experiment is a sandy 
loam and the place where the trimmings 
from the orchard and vineyard had been 
burned for a great many years, and the 
ashes had accumulated until they were 
several inches higher than the surround¬ 
ing land. Here was a spot that had been 
sterilized by fire, so to speak, and also had 
a large quantity of ashes in the soil, so 
much so that the land showed distinctly a 
great amount after having been plowed- 
The potatoes that were used for the ex¬ 
periment were Cobbler, and apparently 
were free from scab; but were not treated 
for the disease. They were planted in 
hills, 2x3 feet, and kept well cultivated 
during the growing season. One of the 
most noticeable things during the growing 
season was the great vigor of the vines, as 
compared with the same variety planted 
in another place and similar soil, that did 
not have the “fire treatment” and ashes. 
After the vines were dead about the middle 
of October, the potatoes were dug, and a 
finer lot of tubers one could not ask for; 
extra large, numerous, smooth and free 
from scab. The potatoes were stored and 
kept separate from others of the same va¬ 
riety, on account of their fine appearance, 
to be used for seed the next year, and thus 
ended the experiment for 1908. The ex¬ 
periments of 1909 and 1910 were conducted 
on the same ground, using seed of the 
previous year’s growth, with no treatment 
for the prevention of the scab, and with 
similar results; namely, fine large, smooth 
potatoes free from scab. 
Other experiments were made in a field 
that had potatoes planted on it the year 
previous, and had shown that the disease 
was present on the potatoes. In this ex¬ 
periment the seed potatoes were treated 
before cutting, with formaldehyde 40 per 
cent., half pint to 15 gallons water, for 
two hours, being put into a sack and im¬ 
mersed in a cask for that length of time, 
and then taken out and dried before cut¬ 
ting. After the ground had been fitted fur¬ 
rows were made with a shovel plow about 
three feet apart and the seed pieces put in 
the bottom of the furrow 15 inches apart; 
and before covering, half a pint of hard¬ 
wood unleached ashes was put on to each 
piece, and then covered with earth, leaving 
every other row without the ashes, so as 
to note the result during the growing sea¬ 
son, and at digging time. It was a mis¬ 
take to put the caustic ashes in direct 
contact with the seed potatoes, as it pre¬ 
vented them from sprouting, and some hills 
were missing, but so far as the potatoes 
were concerned at digging time, no differ¬ 
ence could be observed in the rows that 
had been treated with ashes or left with¬ 
out. The potatoes were large, smooth, and 
apparently free from scab in all the rows. 
From experiments made thus far the con¬ 
clusion would be, that the potato scab is 
perpetuated by being planted in ground 
that had previously been affected, with seed 
that is affected; by boxes and barrels or 
sacks that have been inoculated in hand¬ 
ling or storing; and that the mere presence 
of wood ashes, even in large quantities, 
would not be sufficient to cause the scab; 
that it never comes from nothing, or orig¬ 
inates spontaneously, but must have a liv¬ 
ing germ or seed and proper environment 
to perpetuate itself. Therein lies the hope 
of the potato grower, that by selecting seed 
that is free from the disease and using the 
proper remedies at planting time, he can 
control, and possibly eradicate the potato 
scab from his land. henry b. spencer. 
Cuyahoga Co., Ohio. 
R. N.-Y.—It is not claimed that wood 
ashes “cause scab.” The claim is that this 
scab is a germ disease spreading and de¬ 
veloping not unlike a skin disease in hu¬ 
man or brute. Experiment has shown that 
those germs, like many others, thrive and 
spread much faster m an alkaline soil 
than where the soil is sour. In this respect 
they are like the Alfalfa or clover germs. 
Wood ashes contain lime, and this sweet¬ 
ens the soil, and thus the scab germs are 
more likely to be troublesome where ashes 
are used. That is what both scientific men 
and practical farmers claim and there are 
manv experiments which prove it. We 
might just as well claim that lime causes 
or produces the germs which make Alfalfa 
so valuable. It does not do anything of 
the sort, but gives those germs a better 
chance to grow and spread. Many cases 
have been reported to us where lime was 
used heavily, yet the Alfalfa was close to 
a failure. That was because there were 
no germs in the soil. 
We would give that same explanation for 
the case where the soil was turned over. 
The action of the fire destroyed all scab 
germs. The seed was clean and there could 
be no scab. We had a case like this some 
years ago. A farmer in Michigan reported 
the heavy use of ashes on burned-over land, 
yet there was no scab. We had samples 
of this soil sent to an experiment station, 
and it was impossible to find any scab 
germs in it. Under such conditions, of 
course, there could be no scab, no matter 
how much ashes were used. It would not 
be safe to take such exceptional cases for 
the rule. In most old land scab germs may 
be found, and it will be found safer to 
use other forms of potash on potatoes and 
the wood ashes on clover or grass. 
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