1911, 
THIS RURAL, NEW-YORKER 
830 
GRADING NURSERY TREES. 
II. G., Groton, Mass .—When a nursery 
sells trees of a guaranteed height, do they 
mean roots, and they stretched to their ut¬ 
most, or are they measured from the ground 
after they are set? If they are to be of a 
certain diameter, where should they be 
measured ? 
Ans. —The diameter of a fruit tree 
is measured two inches above the collar 
to determine its grade. The collar of 
a tree is formed by the union of the 
bud with the natural seedling, or in 
the case of a root graft, at the point 
where the graft starts to grow. In 
both cases it is just above the ground 
when the tree is properly planted. The 
height is always measured from the col¬ 
lar to the top of the branches, inde¬ 
pendently of the root system. The 
standard measurements for fruit trees 
two years old from the bud are as fol¬ 
lows : 
ls f grade % in. in diameter.. .5 to 7 ft. high 
2d grade % in. in diameter.. .4 to 5 ft. high 
3d grade V> in. in diameter.. .3 to 4 ft. high 
4th grade % in. in diameter.. .2 to 3 ft. high 
In the case of dwarf pears, the height 
is not considered important. Some little 
latitude is also allowed in regard to 
stocky growers such as, for instance, 
the Seckel pear. In that case, if the 
tree is well branched and the caliper 
is three-fourths inch, it would be allowed 
in the first grade even if it were only 
about 414 feet high. Trees one year 
old from the bud are being transplanted 
very extensively. One-year-old peaches 
always do best. Some nurserymen 
grade them by height, others according 
to caliper. New York State nursery¬ 
men quite extensively grade them as 
follows: 
1st grade 11-16 in. caliper.4 to 5 ft. high 
2d grade 9-1G in. caliper.3 to 4 ft. high 
3d grade 7-10 in. caliper.2 to 3 ft. high 
Japanese plums, being such rank 
growers, are best handled at one year. 
They are graded the same as peaches. 
Many planters also prefer to set out 
one-year buds of apple, plum and 
cherry. They can then head them high 
or low as they wish. Three grades are 
usually made of these whips—four feet, 
three feet and two feet respectively, 
with no attention paid to the diameter 
at the collar. 
These methods of grading are the 
fairest means possible to get at the 
value of a tree. Measuring trees be¬ 
low the collar or adding the roots to 
determine the height is never done by 
nurserymen. Retail nurserymen would 
not allow a wholesale man to sell them 
a second grade tree for a first grade. 
Careful grading is always demanded of 
the growers by the retail men except in 
rare instances, or where the methods 
of the retailer are not up to the stand¬ 
ard. Therefore should a nurseryman 
guarantee his customer to furnish a 
tree of a certain standard grade, he is 
of course expected to live up to his 
agreement and not unload a cheaper 
grade of the same variety upon the 
planter. When both caliper and- height 
are taken into consideration in the case 
of two-year-olds, we then know that the 
tree has been properly pruned, and that 
it has made a normal growth during 
the two years. This would not be the 
case were caliper alone to be consid¬ 
ered. 
The easiest way to detect a four or 
five-year-old tree is to find it very 
thick in the body with a short limb 
growth. It is out of proportion, and 
the experienced man knows that it was 
trimmed back to a height of about 
three feet the year previous and allowed 
to stand over in the nursery row. 
With the exception of three-year-old 
apples and pears, these old fellows have 
a hard time to survive the shock of 
transplanting, and a yearling, even 
though pretty small, of the same va¬ 
riety planted alongside them, will most 
always grow faster, catch up to them, 
and make a better tree. m. i<. 
“Do you believe the pen is mightier 
than the sword ?” “Of course it is. Who 
ever had to pay $25,000 -damages in a 
breach of promise case on account of 
the sword he carried?”—Chicago Rec- 
ord-ITerald. 
A MEXICAN PATRIOT. 
No— we do not claim that the gen¬ 
tleman pictured at Fig. 325 is a regular 
reader of The R. N.-Y., though he may 
be for all we know. One of our good 
friends went into the Mexican moun¬ 
tains on a vacation trip, and came upon 
a group of patriots—soldiers in the 
A MEXICAN PATRIOT. Fig. 325. 
“army” which has Ujjset the Mexican 
Government. Here is a picture of a 
typical soldier. The future of Mexico 
is tied up with our own agricultural de¬ 
velopment. There may be a stampede 
over the border as there has been to 
Canada. At any rate, Mexico seems 
likely to supply us with many farm 
products in the future. You can form 
your own opinion as to whether the 
patriot here pictured is a promising 
citizen or not. 
AN INDIANA FRUIT FARM. 
July 8.—It has boon our custom for years 
to make Saturdays observation days through 
the working season as to the work done 
through the week, and as to planning for 
what is to be done the coming week. We 
arose at 4 o'clock as usual, and after the 
usual house chores were done proceeded to 
give attention to the stock and poultry, 
watering and feeding the cows and getting 
them on pasture before the heat of the day 
came on. The poultry, especially the chicks, 
receive personal attention, as careful han¬ 
dling means success, and is very essential 
during hot weather. These chores take our 
time till the call for breakfast at 5 o’clock 
is given. Breakfast over, we start the pick¬ 
ers in the blackberries. Saturday being a 
good market day, we aim to get all picked 
possible by the noon hour for the afternoon 
market. Early Harvest and Iceberg are the 
only kinds now to pick. Seven o’clock finds 
us aboard an interurban car with the berries 
picked on Friday for the morning market in 
our town, a mile away. The interurban has 
its station a few rods from our door, and its 
cars pass every hour, which makes it a great 
convenience to us, saving both time and 
labor. An hour in town and then back to 
the farm ready for the day’s work. The 
drought of the past live weeks makes in¬ 
spection of crop conditions very necessary. 
We begin with the potato field and find that 
much damage is being done by drought and 
the bugs. This means the use of the sprayer 
as soon as possible, and in the later plant¬ 
ings the stirring of the soil to hold moisture 
if possible. Our young plants from the seed 
afford an interesting study, because of their 
many variations in plant growth. These 
seedlings are bearing the drought well. In 
the potato field we have a number of varie¬ 
ties of the peanut planted, such as Jumbo, 
Virginia Mammoth, Early Spanish and Caro¬ 
lina Reds. The contrast between the dark 
green foliage of these and the yellow sun¬ 
burnt potato tops is surprising. Their re¬ 
sistance to heat and drought is great. They 
are now blooming, and this means work 
next week to furnish loose soil for.the spike- 
lets to enter the ground easily. I believe 
peanuts would be a profitable feed crop on 
our Western soils. If the South can grow 
them for profit on their poorer soils, why 
cannot we? Next is the sorghum lot. Here 
we" see more evidence of drought resistance. 
The corn adjoining is showing the effects 
of drought, while the sorghum is standing 
it finely. We find here work in the way of 
removing the suckers, which take so much 
from the main stalk. Sorghum is a regular 
crop with us. The seed makes good feed 
for hogs or poultry; the blades cured are 
eaten by the cows, the stalk yields the syrup 
and even the bagasse is useful as an orchard 
mulch. Our melon, squash and cucyimber 
ground shows need of some work early in 
the coming week, and, by the way, we locate 
a spot for turnips to be sown soon. This 
ground must bo got in prime shape to re¬ 
ceive the seed under existing conditions of 
moisture. This brings us to the noon hour. 
The berry pickers are in and are discharged 
for the day. Dinner over, our task is ar¬ 
ranging berries for carrying to town. At 
1 o’clock we again take the car for town 
with these berries. A good demand for fruit 
of all kinds makes their disposal an easy 
matter. People tire of the tropical and 
crave the home fruits in their season. There 
is no danger of over-production of good 
fruits, and the prices justify growing them. 
Blackberries eight to 10 cents a quart and 
raspberries (black, 15; red, IS cents), yield 
a greater income than any farm grain can 
do. 
Two o’clock finds us home again and the 
remainder of the day is spent among the 
fruit plats. The berry fields are looked 
over, and we find havoc among the late 
kinds. The outlook for these is bad and no 
remedy at hand. Even the new growth is 
suffering, and unless copious rains come 
within a few days both the fruit and the 
new growth will be ruined. Our currants 
and gooseberries were cleaned up the past 
week. Our inspection of these shows that 
the' pickers did good work. We never let 
any fruit go to waste. There are too many 
channels in which it can be turned to allow 
of waste. The nearest we came to this was 
with the cherry. Such a crop is seldom seen, 
and even the birds got tired picking them. 
Freedom from worms made easy and rapid 
picking, and yet we did not get them all. 
But our friends the birds will complete the 
job. A glance- at the peach orchard shows 
ripening fruit, which indicates some busy 
times soon. Insect damage is very light, 
and no signs of the yellows are seen. Our 
Spring pruning was quite heavy, and now 
we see the benefit of it in the way of better 
fruit and no trees breaking down. Here¬ 
after well pruned-back tops v/ill be our rule. 
Supper and the evening chores bring Sat¬ 
urday’s labors to a close. On these warm 
days we find relief in the evening hours, 
and a trip to town on the interurban with 
the better half brings that relief. We re¬ 
turned at 10 p. m., and sleep, blessed sleep, 
shuts off our visions of tasks to be per¬ 
formed and gives rest to the wearied body, 
so that when hours for labor return we may 
be able for all demands. 
Indiana. j. ir. hayxes. 
When you write advertisers mention The 
R. N.-Y. and you'll get a quick reply and a 
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