3i a 
THI] RURAL NEW-YORKER - 
March V, 
FARMERS’ CLUB 
[ Every query must bo accompanied by the 
narao and address of the writer to insure 
attention. Before asking a question, please see 
whether it is not answered in our advertising 
columns. Ask only a few questions at one time. 
Pul questions on a separate piece of paper.! 
Government Fruit Identification. 
The Department of Agriculture at Wash¬ 
ington has a division for the special work 
of identifying fruit varieties. Complete 
models and descriptions of all known fruits 
are on hand, and if it is possible to name 
the specimens true information will be 
freely furnished. Some facts about this 
work are given below. 
The people of the country are be¬ 
ginning to learn that we desire them 
to send to us fruits of all kinds for 
identification, and during the past year 
the receipts for this purpose have been 
doubled. We were simply flooded with 
apples and pears during the Fall and 
early Winter months; some days re¬ 
ceiving more than one hundred speci¬ 
mens. There never has been a year 
in the memory of our oldest fruit 
growers when there was such variation 
in varieties as was the case during the 
past season. We received altogether a 
total of 5,425 specimens of fruit, of 
which 3,297 were for identification. Out 
of this latter number we were able to 
identify 2,652; the others being largely 
seedlings of unknown origin and of no 
value whatsoever. During the past year 
we have received not to exceed a dozen 
seedlings of all kinds of fruits which we 
consider worthy of further testing and 
propagation. Strangely enough, two of 
these are peaches which originated here 
in the city of Washington. They are 
among the very finest in quality of any¬ 
thing grown so far as we have any 
knowledge or records. I shall be glad 
to have you state in The R. N.-Y., that 
everybody is at liberty to send us speci¬ 
mens of fruits for examination or 
identification, and if people will only 
write to us that they desire to do this, 
we will send mailing boxes and franks 
for the purpose. We are receiving a 
good many specimens from young trees 
just coming into bearing for the pur¬ 
pose of satisfying the owners as to 
whether or not the nurserymen sent 
them the varieties ordered. We find 
that a great many jof these specimens 
do not “lit the papers.” 
We receive hundreds of specimens of 
the old standard varieties, such as Bald¬ 
win, Tompkins King, R. I. Greening 
and Northern Spy from all over the 
country; even these oldest varieties are 
unknown by name to hundreds of peo¬ 
ple who own apple trees. This seems 
to be the clearing house also for the 
experiment stations throughout the land, 
as most of them submit to us the fruit 
puzzles which they receive from time 
to time. Very few freak fruits are sent 
to us; in fact, nothing unusual has 
come in recently. c. p. close. 
Expert in Fruit Identification. 
Propagating the Dwarf Pear. 
Will E. S. Black tell ine through The 
R. N.-Y. how to propagate the dwarf pears? 
Can I root-graft pear scions on quince 
stocks this Winter, or shall I plant quince 
seedlings in nursery row and bud to pear 
next Summer? e. w. w. 
Pennsylvania. 
Plant good strong stocks of Angers 
quince just as early as you can get ground 
ready in the Spring. Snray them with 
some good fungicide like lime-sulphur just 
before they start growth, and with a weaker 
solution after they commence growth, and at 
intervals of two weeks during the growing 
season. Keep the ground thoroughly culti¬ 
vated and free from weeds, bud them as 
close to the ground as possible from the 
first to the middle of July. Root-grafting 
Is not practiced with the* pear or quince 
stock. E. s. B. 
Varieties of Cherries. 
I intend to set about 100 cherry tree#, 
and would like to know what varieties would 
be the best and most profitable in thi« 
section. L. F. a. 
Massachusetts. 
You do not say what kind of cherries you 
want, sweet or sour, which is a very im¬ 
portant question when advice is wanted 
about what varieties to plant. If sweet 
cherries aTe wanted I would advise Windsor 
for a large rod cherry that is very hardy 
and productive: flesh is firm and of fine 
quality. Schmidt is another good variety, 
hardy and productive, fruit dsep black color, 
large size, flesh tender and juicy with a 
very fine quality. Napoleon Bigarreau and 
Yellow Spanish are both good light-colored 
cherries with large fruit, beautiful waxen 
yellow with a red cheek next to the sun. 
Both of these varieties will rot badly in 
hot moist weather at time of ripening; 
both are late cherries. Gov. Wood is a 
light-fleshed cherry ripening two weeks be¬ 
fore the Spanish or Napoleon, and is a 
good early light-colored cherry for home use. 
The best light -colored cherry I have ever 
fruited is the Continental, the fruit is large, 
firm and not subject to rot. Many other 
varieties are largely -advertised, some of 
which are good, and some have not been 
tried in the Eastern States enough to war¬ 
rant recommending them. Tie most profit¬ 
able cherries for market purposes are the 
sour varieties, the Early Richmond and 
Large Montmorency being tl s best of the 
list. The sour cherry sui ??eds on the 
Mahaleb stock, hut the sweet cherry should 
be grown only on Mazzard st •;&. Plant the 
trees In the Fall or very ear •» Spring. 
E. s. B. 
Rose Rack. 
Sometimes, owing to the lack of porch 
space or to the lack of a porch entirely, 
if one wishes to have vines, one must con¬ 
trive some sort of a rack for them. It need 
be neither elaborate nor expensive; in many 
cases suitable material could be found at 
hand. The post of the one shown in the 
drawing is 2x4 inch scantling, rounded at 
the top on the 2-inch sides, thereby improv¬ 
ing its appearance as well as making it 
shed water more readily. The strips are 
%x2 inches. Enough of the scantling was 
chiseled out to bring the three horizontal 
pieces flush with its surface. These hori¬ 
zontals are 42 inches long and 26 inches 
apart, the top one being 15 inches down. 
The method of fitting together can be seen 
In the drawing. After completion the rack 
was painted with a very light gray-green, 
the paint being some which had been left 
over from other work. This rack was set 
about 2% feet and is nine feet above 
ground. It was intended for a Crimson 
Rambler, hut of course could be used for 
any vine. l. e. h. 
Support for Peony. 
Having in our garden a white peony 
the heavy blossoms of which always lie 
upon the ground, we made the following 
simple and inexpensive device to hold them 
up. Take a wooden hoop about 18 inches 
in diameter, and three strong sticks. Nail 
together as in the drawing. In the Spring 
drive the sticks into the ground, leaving 
the hoop about 12 or 15 inches above the 
surface and train the peony through the 
hoop as it comes up. Care must be taken 
to drive the stakes straight down, else 
they will split from the hoop. l. e, h. 
Subsoil Plowing. 
I have some rolling ground and the 
soil is from five to eight inches deep; if I 
plow below that I turn up too much clay. 
If I do not plow deep heavy rains wash 
off my soil and cause considerable loss. I 
would like to use a subsoil plow to loosen 
up more ground so the heavy rains would 
soak down and not wash the soil away. 
I have made inquiries about subsoil plows 
hut none of my neighbors can give me any 
information. Is the subsoil plow a separate 
plow that has to be run in the furrow after 
the furrow is turned, or is it an attachment 
that goes on another plow that tears up the 
.ground behind the plow? e. n. g. 
Knox, Pa. 
The subsoil plow is very different from 
the turning plow. It has a small double 
molrl-hoard like a pointed shoe set on a long 
arm or shank so that it runs deep in the 
soil. After the turning plow throws the 
furrow over, the suhsoiler follows digging 
or breaking the bottom of the furrow with¬ 
out turning the soil over. Gf course It is 
operated by a separate team, and it makes 
a heavy draft. 
YOUR TREES INSURED 
C. M 
BRIDGEPORT 
Bridgeport Nurseries 
Catalog Free Prices Reasonable 
HOBBS & SONS 
INDIANA 
"V YEARLY half a century’s experience 
Yi i n growing trees and. plants for 
the orchard and the home. 
We have made a careful study of varie¬ 
ties, their comparative merits and adap¬ 
tation to different climates and soils. 
We have acquainted ourselves with the 
difference in habit and growth of varie¬ 
ties, so that we are able to distinguish 
most varieties at sight. 
This is of great value to the customer, 
as it insures the greatest protection in 
the genuineness of varieties. Our scions 
and buds are cut from hearing trees as 
much as possible, and propagated and 
grown by the most up-to-date methods. 
For genuineness of varieties, carefully 
grown and graded stock, we think the 
planter can do no better than at the 
is sufficient for the front of a 
post card. If you will write 
your own address plainly on 
_ the other side we shall be 
to send THE LEADING AMERICAN SEED CATALOG,—an elegant book of 178 
Burpee, Philadelphia, 
* --SEED CAT 1 
Burpee-Quality 
pleased 
pages, which should be read by all who would 
have the best garden possible and who are 
willing to pay a fair price for seeds of the 
Dibble’s Seed Com 
is of high vitality, testing with us from 95% to 98% 
and will produce profitable crops if given a fair chance. 
We offer the product of 300 acres of the finest Seed 
Corn we have ever had in our Seed House and vari¬ 
eties that we have proven by field test on our own 1,600 
acre Seed Farms to be the best kinds for the Middle 
and Eastern States. If you want to grow the largest 
possible amount of fodder for the silo, plant | 
DIBBLE’S MAMMOTH WHITE DENT grows 
14-20 feet in height, rank and dense as a young forest, 
enormously productive. 
R. B. Anderson, Guilford, Conn, writes—“Stalks 
12-22 feet high filled a 300 ton silo from 11>£ acres. 
Call it “King of Ensilage Corn” Where seasons 
are short and frost comes early, use for husking. 
Dibble’s Mammoth Yellow Flint the earliest, 
most productive, rankest growing large flint variety 
grown. Ears 10-15 inches long, stalks 8-10 feet high, 
a 100 day corn. 
And for the silo— DIBBLE’S EARLY YELLOW DENT the 
best extra early, large growing Yellow Detit wehavc ever tested. 
Ears 8-10 inches long, stalks 8-12 feet high. G. \\ . Shari), Erie 
Co., Pa., says—“Matures easily in 80-90 days” John C. Mapes, 
Chester, N. Y., reports that he filled a silo 14 x 30 feet from six 
acres.” 
DIBBLE’S IMPROVED LEAIMING 10 days to two weeks 
earlier than the common Learning of commerce and the best 
standard main crop variety for ensilage or for crop. Matures 
with us in 100-110 days, stalks 10-15 feet high and we have fre¬ 
quently put into our silos, 30 tons ensilage to the .acre that 
would have husked 125 bushels well ripened ears. F. S. 
Parmelee, Putney, Vt.. says—“Improved Learning grew ts-»6 
feet high, with many stalks having four ears.” 
Ask for Samples. Test Them Yourself. 
Dibble’s Farm Seed Catalog telling all about our high 
grade seed Corn, Potatoes, Oats, Barley, Alfalfa, Clover and 
Grass Seed with two new books—"Dibble on the Potato” and 
“Dibble on Alfalfa” FREE. Addrxss— 
EDWARD F. DIBBLE, Seedgrower.Honeoye Falls,N.Y., BoxB 
HEADQUARTERS FOR FARM SEEDS 
1912 BARGAINS 
IN SMALL FRUIT PLANTS 
'"do know enSh deJemds ujSn 
good plants oftherightvariety. Wegrowthe right kinds 
charge for them. We strive for the best in everything. We actually paid 
$350 for 10 ears of SEED CORN 
Wp have issued and send free, to anyone interested in good Corn, a booklet telling 
i^w wl planted tht lO prize ears of Corn, its yield, and other instructive acta. 
It is nicely illustrated from actual photographs. 
Send for Free Catalogue 
Every reader of this paper should have a copy. It is »c°"“se business catalogvw rf 
Plants, Fruit Trees, Ornamental Shrubs, Vines, Seed Corn, Oats, potatoes, 
Alfalfa, Timothy, Clover, etc. Planters should get our prices and Ji™ s * 
We gioe our 1912 customers a start of the $350.00 Corn 
r 1 a of F.. OHlOi 
A D VT* ¥7* 
