1011. 
1167 
“THIS RURAt NEW-YORKER 
Ruralisms 
MISSOURI PLUM NOTES. 
In my previous notes I did not com¬ 
plete the list of plums tested here. 
There is one other native worthy of 
mention and that is the Newman. I do 
not know the origin of this plum. It is 
not quite so large as Wild Goose, but 
a shade larger than the Milton. Its 
chief value lies in its late season. It 
begins to ripen here the last of July, 
a month after \V ild Goose, and runs 
all through August to September. It is 
an immense yielder, a fair-sized tree, 
bearing four or five bushels. A good 
quality is their gradual ripening, giving 
plenty of time for their marketing. 
They are a bright red, firm, good flavor, 
and the tree has a tough grain that will 
not easily break. A year or so ago this 
plum was regularly quoted on the St. 
Louis market, but I did not notice it in 
1911, nor do I see it listed in many 
nursery catalogues. 
Gonzales. —The Gonzales, probably a 
seedling Japan, has done well here. It 
is of the largest size, lively red in color, 
good quality and small seed. It is a 
young and heavy bearer and the fruit 
should be thinned for real fancy speci¬ 
mens. It resists the rot very well, but 
is a favorite with the curculio, which 
is a strange combination, as the cur¬ 
culio is usually the pioneer of the rot. 
This year there was a light set of fruit, 
and the plums averaged very large, as 
GONZALES PLUM. Fig. 000. 
the picture, Fig. 472, shows. We sold 
them at 25 and 30 cents per gallon. 
When canned in halves they look like 
peaches, but later go to pieces in the 
juice. 
Waugh. —The Waugh is nearly as 
large as the Gonzales, but not so apple¬ 
shaped. It is a late variety, originated 
by Mr. Kerr, of Maryland, who sent 
me some o£ the first trees. It is a 
Wayland cross with a Japanese. It is 
dark, almost purple, very firm and a 
sprightly acid in flavor. It is a fine 
keeper; tree spreading and vigorous. 
Here it has been a failure, due to cur¬ 
culio and rot, but on soil not so rich 
and stimulating, it would doubtless be 
more resistant. 
Earliest of All. —I suppose this is 
the same as the variety listed as the 
Six Weeks. This is the earliest plum 
I know of, and one of the most depend¬ 
able. It blooms later than the rest of 
its class, and thus escapes frosts. Very 
seldom is a failure recorded. In color 
a_ solid red, and firm fleshed. It will 
ripen up after picking a little green. 
The quality is not high, but still highly 
appreciated as giving the first taste of 
plum flavor in the Spring. Here it 
begins to ripen the first week in June 
with the Early Harvest blackberries and 
the raspberries. It is almost immune to 
the curculio and rot. It sells well in 
strawberry boxes. Another quality that 
commends it is that it is one of the 
few freestone plums. It is the smallest 
of the. Japans, ranking medium, and 
ripens its whole crop quickly. 
Japanese Plums.— Of the other Jap¬ 
ans I have tried, the Red June and 
Abundance do the best. The Burbank 
and Wickson are subject to the rot. 
The Red June is deservedly increasing 
in popularity. Gold I have not tried, 
but it does well for a neighbor. It re¬ 
sembles the Gonzales in size. Other 
sorts tested here are the Wayland and 
its relative, the Reed. They are small 
plums, firm, brilliant cherry red, and 
ripen the latest of all, in' September. 
They are of value for preserves and 
jelly. The Wayland is the heavier 
bearer, but the tree breaks to pieces un¬ 
der a crop. The Reed is tough as elm. 
Cape Girardeau Co., Mo. l. r. Johnson. 
Chestnut Culture in Ohio. 
The two chestnut burrs shown at Fig. 
469, page 1151, were grown by Mr. O. F. 
Witte of Lorain Co., Ohio. No. 1 is 
Parry’s Grant and No. 2 a seedling of 
Paragon. This seedling is rather small, 
.but of very good flavor. Many of us 
can remember the “chestnut boom” of 
some years ago when it was confidently 
predicted that nut culture would lead 
horticultural development. The chestnut 
blight has ruined the culture of chest¬ 
nuts along the Atlantic, and we regret to 
say that, the disease is moving west¬ 
ward. It will no doubt continue to 
spread, as the scientists do not offer 
any great hope for heading it off. Mr. 
Witte’s letter follows: 
I wish to tell you something about my 
success in raising chestnuts which I saw 
advertised in The R. N.-Y. about 11 years 
ago. I bought six trees, of which only one 
lived, the Ridgley. I grafted on our natives. 
I cut down some large trees and let the 
stumps sprout, and they made fine trees, 
and I cut the tops out of some and grafted 
on them. All did well; I have about 60 
trees in bearing; all sizes, from two to 20 
feet high. The Ridgley and Paragon are 
the best, but I have four seedlings which 
differ from all others. They bear very 
young; one in particular bore when only 
two years old ; it is now five and is loaded 
with large burs with from four to six and 
seven in each bur; good size nuts. It is a 
most wonderful tree. No money will buy it. 
I sell the nuts at 16 cents per pound. I 
blame your paper for all this. 
I also have the largest English walnut 
trees in this State, 30 years old ; the nut I 
planted came from Germany. It is as hardy 
as an oak, and has borne nuts from 10 
years on. They are very large nuts and fine 
quality. I graft them on the Black wal¬ 
nut ; they bear much earlier than on their 
own root. 
Chinese Water Gardens. 
Mr. C. V. Piper, who is traveling as ah 
agricultural explorer of the Bureau of 
Plant Introduction, gives the following de¬ 
scription of the water gardens around Can¬ 
ton. which show the remarkable way in 
which the Chinese utilize their swamp land : 
“At the western end of the city of Canton 
is an extensive area of flat swamp lands 
which have been utilized by the Chinese in a 
highly developed system of water gardens. 
The land has been divided in small paddies 
of an acre or so, usually less, each sur¬ 
rounded by a dyke. These paddies are al¬ 
ways covered with water usually one or two 
feet deep. Several different crops are grown 
in regular rotation, namely, lotus (Nelum- 
bium speciosum), Chekoo (Sagittaria chinen- 
sis, a species of arrowhead), Kausun 
( Zizania, or wild rice), water chestnut 
(Eleocharis tuberosa), and Lingkok (Trapa 
bicornis), Another crop also occurs, Ong- 
chog (Ipomoea reptans), but this, as I un¬ 
derstand, does not enter into rotation, whole 
paddies or parts of them being devoted con¬ 
stantly to this plant. At the present season 
(July 10) the principal crops are lotus and 
Trapa, but these are being harvested and in 
a few cases the harvest completed. At the 
edge of most paddies is a row of Kausun or 
of Sagittaria. or both, to be used as “seed.” 
As soon as the lotus is harvested the paddy 
is planted to Kausun. The seed plants of 
this are now about six feet out of the water. 
In transplanting this is cut off to two or 
three feet, the tufts separated into parts of 
about three culms each, and planted in rows 
four feet wide, the plants about two feet 
apart in the rows. One mother plant I had 
dug up had a single stolon two feet long 
about as large as a lead pencil, the joints 
two to three inches long. From the crop 
now being planted the crop will be obtained 
in about two months. 
“Trapa is planted from the seeds in the 
Spring; water chestnuts from the conns in 
the Fall, and Sagittaria from the roots also 
in the Fall. Lotus yield both a crop of 
root-stocks, resembling a string of large 
sausages, and the pods, both of which are 
now in the market in abundance. Another 
variety is grown only for the dowers. This 
information is^the best I could get except in 
the case af Kausun of which I saw new 
paddies just planted. Most of the Kausun 
planting will be in about two weeks. 
“The dykes between the paddies are often 
planted to trees, especially loongan and 
leitchee. On the edges of the dvkes one 
frequently sees taro (Colocasia). The 
Fhinese all say the Kausun does not pro¬ 
duce seed, which is probably true as they 
cultivate it. 
“Besides these crops the Chinese secure 
an abundance of snails and frogs from the 
paddies. In some there are fish also, but 
the fish ponds are usually separate, as are 
the duck ponds. On the surface of the pad¬ 
dies is a solid mat of Azolla and two 
species of Lemna, which are gathered in 
great baskets as food for ducks and fishes. 
The water and mud of the ponds smell 
vilely, due no doubt to fertilizers. The 
gardens are excellently kept and no doubt 
are very profitable. It certainly is a won¬ 
derful way of utilizing what otherwise 
would be waste land, and indicates one 
method we might copy in utilizing some of 
our swamp area. Indeed, it seems to me a 
swamp experiment station would be well 
worth while even now. I saw no mosquitoes 
and they are said not to be bad. due no 
doubt to the fishes in the ponds at least in 
part. None of the Europeans I asked had 
ever eaten Kausun. but the Chinese hold it 
in high esteem. I can give no estimate of 
the area grown, but if all thei lotus is suc¬ 
ceeded by Kausun it is very extensive. 
This information I think accurate in a gen¬ 
eral way only, as one would have to ob¬ 
serve the gardens a whole year to get them 
accurate. My brief experience indicates 
what so many others have said, that no 
two Chinese toll quite the same story.” 
I grow no lettuce plants but the Grand 
Rapids Forcing variety, and find greater 
demand for it than for any other kind 
grown, which makes a large loose head; 
it is a fine and rapid seller. 
Indiana. c. e. fields. 
Make s o m e b o dy 
happy with a 
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EASTMAN KODAK CO., 
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