lOSO 
plant in his patch, with a stronger growth the first 
season, and a paying cutting the following year. The 
two-year roots had a loss of at least 10 per cent in 
starting, did not recover from the shock of transplant¬ 
ing, and gave no cutting the following year. The 
greater number of commercial growers of asparagus 
A! GOOD WORK 'HORSE HARNESS. Fio. 437. 
now plant only one-year-old roots. The two-year 
roots are sold to dealers who retail them to the small 
garden planters, or sell them through agents to the 
beginners, who like big stories and big plants at big 
prices, and who never give the practical part of the 
matter a moment’s thought. 
The apple tree for the orchard should be a strong 
one- 3 ? ear-old tree—either grafted on whole, roots or 
budded on whole roots. When well grown all of the 
strong growing varieties like Baldwin, Spy, North¬ 
western Greening, Gravenstein, Rambo, etc., should 
be three to five feet high at one year from graft or 
bud, big enough to allow the forming of a low head 
and to train and procure the shape the owner may 
want. The transplanting of such a tree, if done in 
the Fall, or very early in the Spring, will hardly in¬ 
terrupt its growth the following season. The nursery¬ 
man can sell this tree at a profit for one-half the price 
that he can a two-year tree, and at the same time 
give his customer satisfaction from start to finish of 
such a tree. 
When it comes to the weak and crooked growing 
varieties it is best to get a good two-year tree to 
transplant into the orchard, but I would not advise 
anyone to plant the poor growing varieties without 
double-working on a strong-growing stock. The com¬ 
plaint of getting varieties untrue to name, often 
causing great loss to planters, can be done away 
with and at the same time a stronger and more even 
growth of tree can be had by planting Northwestern 
Greening, Northern Spy, Baldwin and such strong 
growers when one year old. Bud them the following 
July or August with the varieties wanted. Nursery¬ 
men would always be glad to contract to grow these 
strong growers and deliver when one year old at very 
reasonable prices. 
If older trees are preferred, then plant a two-year- 
old tree six to seven feet high and calipering three- 
quarters inch at two inches above the bud. 
Never plant the small grades of two and three-year- 
old apple; a three to four-foot apple may be two or 
three years old, a stunted tree that will never make 
a good tree. I would prefer a good one-year apple 
tree to a two-year tree at the same price. The two- 
year tree has partly formed a head in the nursery, 
and as a rule it has to be shaped over again at a 
large loss of time and work. 
The same rule holds good with the cherry and 
plum, especially the Japan plums; a good one-year 
tree is not only the cheapest in price, but is more 
sure to live and to shape the future head than is an 
older tree. All of the Japan pears are better planted 
when one year old. The European pear should he at 
least two years old before transplanting from nursery 
to orchard. A good two or three-year-old tree should 
be six to seven feet high and three-quarters 
inch caliper about two inches above union of bud 
with stock. 
The peach is or always should be sold when one 
year old and as a rule are graded from the nursery 
row’s, as one to two-foot straight whips, two to three- 
foot branched, three to four-foot three-eighths inch 
caliper, four to five-foot one-half inch caliper, and 
five to six feet nine-sixteenths inch and up caliper. 
Whenever caliper is given in connection with the 
height, caliper counts before height. To illustrate: 
A tree calipering three-eighths only, but feet in 
height, would go into the three to four-foot grade, 
because it does not caliper one-half inch it cannot go 
into the four to five-foot grade. At the same time a 
tree calipering nine-sixteenths inch which was four 
or 4^2 feet high goes into the nine-sixteenths or 
THE RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
five to six-foot grade. This explains some complaints 
made in The R. N.-Y. about not getting trees as high 
as expected when ordering by height instead of 
caliper. When grown on good ground and favorable 
w'eather the trees may run largely to the heavier 
grades, and the reverse will be true when conditions 
are unfavorable. The nurseryman thus finds himself 
confronted with a different average of grades dif¬ 
ferent seasons, and he will make his prices accordingly 
to induce customers to buy the grades he is long on. 
Most planters at the present time favor a larger tree, 
four to five feet, and many the larger grades of five 
to six feet. I am convinced by a long experience that 
there is no better grade of peach to plant than a 
three to four-foot tree three-eighths inch caliper. Ibis 
tree has body enough to start out a strong top, and at 
the same time is small enough easily to overcome the 
shock of transplanting. The larger trees are coarse- 
rooted, heavy-bodied, and when severely cut back 
often make no start of young growth at all the fol¬ 
lowing Summer. My experience has been to get good 
results that a three to four-foot peach tree is a 
better tree to plant even if one had to pay the same 
price that would be asked for the larger grades. 
One-year grape vines, one-year blackberry plants 
and one-year tips of black raspberry plants, and not 
transplants; one-year currants and gooseberries, di¬ 
vided clumps of rhubarb, are all the best and cheapest 
to plant. A two-year plant must be cut back in the 
A BUNCH OF SUTTON APPLES. Via. 438. 
grape to one or two eyes, and with the currant and 
gooseberry the tops should be cut back to a few inches 
above ground to make a young and bushy growth. 
Rhubarb soon becomes old and worthless when al¬ 
lowed to grow into large clumps, and needs dividing 
again and again to keep in a strong, healthy condition. 
Clumps will not make stalks fit to cut the first year of 
planting and the divided root, if well cared for, will 
make a strong clump by the second year. The younger 
a strong, thrifty plant or tree can be transplanted, 
the more certain it is of withstanding the shock of 
transplanting, the easier it is trained into the form 
we want it, and the less it costs us to buy it. 
The nurseryman cannot grow a tree for two and 
three years at as good a profit, even though he charges 
treble the price of one-year stock, as the labor, land 
rents or interest, fertilizers, digging, packing and 
handling of the older tree has cost him more than 
the extra price he gets for it, and at the same time 
the loss is oftentimes more than trebled from many 
causes. One-year plants are not only cheapest but 
best in most cases for the planter, and most of the 
large planters are finding it to their advantage to 
plant such stock. e. s. black. 
THE SUTTON OR SUTTON BEAUTY APPLE. 
At Fig. 438 is shown a sample of the Sutton apple 
as grown under sod culture at Hope Farm. We also 
show the tree from which this apple was taken. 
There is also a picture of a branch of Sutton grown 
by Mr. L. J. Clifton, of Onondaga Co., N. Y. Beach 
states that Sutton is supposed to be a seedling of 
ITubbardston. The fruit is intermediate between 
Hubbardston and Baldwin in color, texture, quality 
and season. With us when grown in sod the fruit 
has a dark red color—darker than most of the Bald- 
Noveinber 11, 
wins. It is a better dessert apple than Baldwin, 
though not quite so desirable for all cooking pur¬ 
poses. It is better suited for a fancy market trade. 
The tree as shown grows upright somewhat after 
the plan of a Kieffer pear tree and is disappointing 
to those who do not know the fruit. We have about 
150 trees, and were tempted to cut them back and 
top-work to other varieties* for the close compact 
head made a poor showing as compared with larger 
trees. As our trees come into hearing and we see 
the fruit in other orchards, we find that this shape 
is corrected, as the weight of the apples pulls down 
and broadens out the limbs. Sutton evidently fails 
to satisfy in many locations, but with us it gives 
promise of being a profitable variety. The close 
compact head enables us to plant “fillers” and give 
them every chance. 
THE DEER NUISANCE IN MASSACHUSETTS. 
What can I do with young orchard badly damaged by 
deer? Tops and bark arc chewed off. Must T graft, bud 
or reset? Is there a way to keep the doer out or away? 
Cambridge, Mass. c. L. c. 
For the fruit growers of this State new enemies 
seem to multiply very fast; Brown-tail and Gypsy 
moths, and deer, all within a few years, to say noth¬ 
ing of lesser enemies. To my mind the deer arc a 
more serious one than all others in many parts of 
New England to those who wish to start in the fruit 
business, or those growers Wishing to set new or¬ 
chards, for it is the young orchard where the deer 
get in their worst work. The New England farmer 
has not been brought up to fence his land against 
deer, and in most cases it is not practical for him to 
do so; so the average fruit grower will depend upon 
the gun or dog to protect himself as best lie can from 
State protected deer. 
At Boston a big fruit show will be held to boom 
New England’s possibilities as adapted to commercial 
fruit culture. Yet I am certain a resolution which 
would • favor doing away with this nuisance could not 
be passed at a meeting of the organization in charge 
of that show. Although Massachusetts has a law 
which allows damages to those whose crops are dam¬ 
aged by deer, my experience is that the fruit grower 
seldom gets anywhere near the actual damage done. 
In case of damage one should immediately notify the 
town or city authorities and in the towns the chairman 
of selectman assesses the damage if less than $20, 
if more than that amount the damaged party chooses 
one, the chairman of the selectmen one, and all three 
then assess the damage. I am free to say that in many 
cases it is a hard matter to give the exact damage. 
In regard to trees badly eaten or broken down so 
they will not make good shaped and well-balanced 
heads, pull them out every time; yet such trees can 
be set in nursery rows and grafted at time of setting, 
leaving little or no other top, and in many cases will 
later make good trees. But trees which have been eaten 
so close as to make little growth and are thoroughly 
stunted would be better put on a brush heap, especially 
apples. Yet I have found that Japan plums and peaches 
even when badly stunted in a season’s growth may by 
an early application of nitrate of soda make affairly good 
growth the next season. This last Spring I replaced 
about 50 trees of Japan plums nearly all alive, and a 
few others should have been replaced. As a rule no 
PLAN FOR FARM GREENHOUSE. Fig. 439. 
one can afford to fool with stunted trees, and it is 
better once in a while to pull up a tree which later 
might have grown all right than try to coddle a lot of 
worthless ones. I believe all fruit growers and farm¬ 
ers should unite to prevent any further encroachment 
on their rights by the sporting class who look upon 
the farmer’s land as a game preserve for themselves. 
Massachusetts. H. o. mead. 
Texas farmers help keep the roads right: “The split- 
log drags which are used for keeping the country roads in 
good condition are placed on each road leading out of the 
city Each farmer coming into town hitches the drag to 
Ids wagon and hauls it for a mile or two, leaving it for 
the next farmer, who does likewise. In this way the drag 
is kept moving all tho time, and the result is good roads 
and smooth roads in all kinds of weather.” 
