488 
THE RURAI> NEW-YORKEK 
April 13, 
FARMERS’ CLUB 
[ Every query must be accompanied by the 
name 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.] 
APPLE VARIETIES AND VALUES. 1 
I give the per cent of apples packed 
to government standard from 100 bar¬ 
rels as they come from the trees. The 
apples shrink quite a lot by the time 
they are packed, Spys, etc., being held 
till January and February before being 
packed. The figures are for J.908, 1909 
and 1910, averaged, and were packed by 
our cooperative company, and in two 
years are at their average prices. The 
other year I sold myself to London and 
other places. I deduct 45 cents, as 
shown, for barrels and packing charges: 
One hundred barrels Gravensteia as they 
came from the tree made: 
No. 1, 46.8% at $2.60, less 45 cents 
for barrels and packing, $2.15, 
gives .$100.62 
No. 2, 19.1% at $1.78, less 45 cents 
for barrels and packing, $1.33, 
gives . 25.40 
No. 3, 21.6% at $1.06, less 45 cents 
for barrels and packing, $0.61, 
gives . 13.17 
Value of 100 barrels Gravenstein 
tree run .$139.19 
One hundred barrels Ben Davis tree, run : 
No. 1. 42.8%, $2.68, less 45 cents, 
$2.83, gives . $95.44 
No. 2, 21.6%, $2.27, less 45 cents, 
$1.82, gives . 39.31 
No. 3, 28.1%, $1.57, less 45 cents, 
$1.12, gives . 31.47 
Value 100 barrels Ben Davis tree 
run ..$166.22 
One hundred barrels Spy tree run: 
No. 1, 33.4%, $3.28, less 45 cents, 
$2.83, gives . 
No. 2, 19.0%, $2.53, less 45 cents, 
$2.08, gives . 
No. 3, 30.0%, $1.63, less 45 cents, 
$1.18, gives . 
$94.52 
39.52 
35.40 
Value 100 barrels Spy tree run..$169.44 
barrels Stark tree run : 
1, 50.5%, $2.85, less 45 cents, 
$2.40, gives .$121.20 
2, 18.4%, $2.18, less 45 cents, 
$1.73, gives . 
3, 20.5%, $1.74, less 45 cents, 
$1.29, gives . 
One hundred 
No. 
No. 
No. 
31.83 
26.44 
Value 100 barrels Stark tree run.$179.47 
These figures are the prices of 100 
barrels after all freight charges, com¬ 
missions and picking charges are paid. 
Our barrel is rather smaller than the 
United States one, and only holds 96 
quarts. Mind, the figures are for the 
100 barrels before packing. 
Berwick, N. S. john buchanan. 
SHALL WE TOP-WORK BEN DAVIS? 
J. 17. T., Rochester, N. Y .—I would like 
to know whether to top-work five acres or 
Ben Davis, 22 years old, in fine healthy 
condition, say to Northern Spy. Would 
this pay in the end? Land lies on the 
shore of Lake Ontario. 
I have never set a Ben Davis, and 
would not advise setting them, but after 
the apple deal this year do not think I 
would cut out and graft to Northern 
Spy. Spy in the cold as well as common 
storage has melted away in frightful 
shape, many have shrunk nearly or quite 
one-half, and the remainder have no life 
and are not satisfactory, while Ben 
Davis are the highest priced apple in 
storage to-day. One grower here just 
sold his Ben Davis as they lay for 
$3.50. My Baldwins are said to be the 
best in the same storage, and I have 
hard work to get $3.40. What induce¬ 
ment is there to cut out Ben Davis ? 
One can raise Ben Davis cheaper than 
Spy by a lot. clakk allis. 
Orleans Co., N. Y. 
The top-working of 22-year-old Ben 
Davis to Northern Spy is commendable 
if the owner believes in high ideals and 
is willing to practice them at the ex¬ 
pense of his bank account; we, how¬ 
ever, see far too little of this spirit 
shown by growers. For five months 
Ben Davis has been selling for fully as 
much as Baldwins in some large pro¬ 
ducing sections. R. G. H. 
Wayne Co., N. Y. 
If the Ben Davis are planted 30 or 33 
feet apart I should graft every other 
row diagonally across the orchard. 
After the Spy need the whole space I 
should cut the remaining Ben Davis 
out. Let the West grow the Ben Davis, 
and grow better apples here. 
Monroe Co., N. Y. delos tenny. 
I do not advise the planting of Ben 
Davis apples, as I have the feeling that 
in the long run this variety will do 
rather more harm to the apple industry 
than good. It is, however, a profitable 
sort to grow under many conditions, 
and in the case of this correspondent, 
I am inclined to think that his five acres 
of Ben Davis will be as profitable for 
the next few years and probably for a 
long time to come as any other variety 
he could grow. Moreover, I do not 
like top-worked trees. In the great ma¬ 
jority of cases a top-worked orchard 
has many lopsided, malformed trees, 
which makes such orchards undesirable. 
U. P. HEDRICK. 
Geneva, N. Y., Exp. Station. 
A JERSEY POTATO MEETING. 
Potatoes were the chief topic discussed 
at a recent meeting of the State Board of 
Agriculture of New Jersey, which was at¬ 
tended by about 450 interested farmers. 
The meeting was held in the court room at 
Freehold, the county seat of Monmouth 
County, and the center of the great potato 
growing district of New Jersey. Secretary 
Franklin C. Dye presided. The topic of 
the first address of the morning was “Soil 
Treatment and Fertilization for Potatoes,” 
by Dr. J. G. Lipman, director of the State 
Experiment Station at New Brunswick. 
Dr. Lipman declared that potato land is 
made, not born, and that it takes time to 
produce land which will give large yields. 
This land is developed by the use of fer¬ 
tilizer. More fertilizer is used now than 
10 years ago, and this can be interpreted 
in only two ways; either we are producing 
larger crops, or more is needed to main¬ 
tain the same crops. The practical ques¬ 
tion before the farmer is to get the maxi¬ 
mum return per acre for the fertilizer used. 
Progress in the future must be made along 
the line of saving nitrogen, yet Dr. Lipman 
declared that he believed even now the 
progressive farmer was using more nitro¬ 
gen than absolutely necessary. Every year 
the price of fertilizer is going up, and to 
keep up the same crop more fertilizer is 
being needed, therefore it can be seen that 
it is growing even more expensive to obtain 
the necessary supply of nitrogen by this 
means. Dr. Lipman recommended as other 
means of obtaining this plant food the 
plowing under of clover crops, and the 
careful rotation of crops. Winter vetch is 
also a good crop to use for this, and per¬ 
haps the use of Alfalfa may be developed 
along this line also. As a general rule, 
Dr. Lipman advised the use of 1,000 pounds 
of ground limestone per acre in the Fall 
on land on which potatoes are raised year 
after year. 
The first address of the afternoon was 
given by Charles D. Woods, S. D., director 
Maine Agricultural Experiment Station, 
Orono, Maine, on “Potato Production.” 
Prof. Woods discussed the problem of seed 
potatoes. lie said that northern-grown 
seed potatoes were best, since it seems that 
more vigorous tubers are produced there, 
due to the damp, favorable climatic con¬ 
ditions. There are few real seed potato 
producers who give the business proper at¬ 
tention, and disregard for the quality of 
the seed results in misbranding and mixed 
varieties. The farmer often suffers con¬ 
siderable loss from mixed seed, as the po¬ 
tatoes mature at different times, and the 
proportion which are of a later variety are 
lost when the earlier ones are harvested: 
Prof. Woods said it was essential that seed 
potatoes be absolutely free from disease, 
some of the diseases most commonly found 
being early blight, late blight, dry rot, 
fusarium, black-leg, which is carried en¬ 
tirely by seed, and scab. Seed potatoes 
should always be disinfected with formal¬ 
dehyde before planting, to guard against 
disease whether any is visibly present or 
not. To cut up seed long before planting, 
especially if damp weather is likely to en¬ 
sue, is dangerous and likely to result in 
scabby potatoes. Prof. Woods advised that 
potatoes be planted from 3 [4 to four inches 
deep, with broad ridge, the necessity of 
underdraining heavy land for the conser¬ 
vation of water, and of careful spraying 
with Bordeaux mixture and arsenical- poi¬ 
sons to guard against blight. It has been 
found that potatoes so sprayed always 
yield better, whether there has been any 
indication of disease or not. Liquid sprays 
are preferable to powdered sprays. Prof. 
Wood's complimented New Jersey farmers 
on their method of marketing, in which 
they are ahead of Maine, saying that pota¬ 
toes fairly uniform in size sell much bet¬ 
ter. He approved of the mechanical po¬ 
tato sorter which is in use by the farmers’ 
exchanges, and said that the planter made 
in New Jersey was the best one he knew of. 
The concluding address was made by Dr. 
M. T. Cook, State Pathologist of New 
Jersey. In the course of his remarks he 
stated that the introduction of many dis¬ 
eases may be guarded against by inspection. 
There is a law securing the inspection of 
nurseries. At present the appropriation is 
too small for the inspection of foreign im¬ 
portations. For example, it would cost $1 
a bushel to inspect the importation of seed 
potatoes for the disease called wart, which 
is prevalent in Europe. If it should get a 
hold here it would do for our potatoes 
what the chestnut blight has done for the 
chestnut. Most of the potatoes imported, 
however, are for consumption, so there is 
not much danger of bringing the wart in 
here. Native plants develop a local re¬ 
sistance, hence by producing our own seed 
we develop a potato which is suited to our 
climatic conditions. d. t. h. 
Port Monmouth, N. J. 
Missouri Apple Prices. —The State 
Board of Horticulture gives the following 
prices as received for last season’s crop: 
Av. price per bu. on trees. 42.5c 
Av. price per bu. delivered. 57.2c 
Av. price per bu. from storage (cost of 
storage included) . 98.3c 
Av. price per bu. by the bushel.67c 
Av. price per bu. by the barrel. 58.5c 
Av. price per bu. by the cwt......... 38.7c 
Sprayed, av. price per bu... 61.7c 
Unsprayed, av. price per bu. 49.3c 
Graded, av. price per bu. 62.7c 
Orchard run, av. price per bu. 43.4c 
Perhaps the two most important facts 
contained in the above figures are the in¬ 
crease of 12.4c per bushel received for 
sprayed over unsprayed fruit, and the fail¬ 
ure of 2.5% of the orchards to produce 
salable fruit due to ravages of disease and 
insects. 
Come to Berlin 
VISIT OUR NURSERIES and ORCHARDS 
Find out how we grow trees and make these trees 
bear fruit—our experience will help you avoid costly 
mistakes. In our widely scattered orchards we have 
learned which kinds are best for most localities and 
we can tell you what and what not to plant. 
While here you can select your trees, if you wish 
to buy, though you will not obligate yourself to pur¬ 
chase by coming. Let us know when you can come 
tod we will pay your hotel bill during your stay. 
Send for Our Catalog 
If V ou can't come to Berlin, our service department 
Will help you select your trees and you can order by 
mail. Wien you write for the book, tell us how much 
tree planting you think of doing. 
Better send 50 cents, too, for copy of ‘‘How to Grow 
8 nd Market Fruit”—our new book which tells all 
about how to make your orchards profitable—rebated 
OO first order for $ 5.00 or more. 
AD ACTIIIR Undesirable varieties of apples 
unnr I IHU represent • waste that still per- 
—sists in many otherwise well 
managed orchards. Such trees can be readily and 
economically changed to profitable commercial 
varieties. As experts we solicit your work. C. F. 
BLEY, Fruit Tree Specialist, Holder of Cornell 
Certificate, Hamburgh, N. Y. 
Call’s Nurseries, ow» 
Have a Large Stock of the finest Fruit, 
Shade and Ornamental Trees, Spray 
Pumps, Spraying Solutions, and Gasoline 
Engines. Deal Direct. Prices Low. 
Send for Price List. 
K GRAPEVINES 
69 Varieties. Also Small Fruits, Trees, etc. Best Root¬ 
ed Stock, Genuine, cheap, 2 sample vines mailed for 10c. Deso. 
price-list free. LKWIS ROBSC1I & SON. Box K, Kredonta, N. Y, 
“BLACK’S QUALITY” 
FRUIT TREES 
NONE BETTER 
None Give Better Returns when They Fruit 
Buy Direct From the Nursery 
and save agent’s discounts and middleman’s 
profits. When you buy our trees you get a 
Dollar’s Worth of Trees 
for every one hundred cents you remit to us. 
PEACH and APPLE TREES 
a specialty. CATALOGUE FREE 
JOS. H. BLACK, SON «& CO. 
HIGHTSTOWN. N. J. 
A VALUABLE 
FRUIT BOOK FREE 
We have been growing fruit for thirty 
years, and while we don't 
know it all, we have 
learned a good many things. 
These things we have 
boiled down for you in our 
free Booklet. You can get 
our thirty years’ experience 
in twenty minutes and get 
it much cheaper and quicker 
than we got it. 
This booklet also describes our reliable, test¬ 
ed fruit trees and plants—the best and safest 
money can buy. Write for a copy today* 
BARNES BROS. NURSERY CO. 
Box 8. Yalesville, Conn. 
100,000 Fruit Trees 
APPLES, PEARS, PEACHES & 
PLUMS at wholesale prices. 
All Stock Government inspected. Stock budded 
. from bearing trees. 
Write today for onr Free Catalogue. 
ONTARIO NURSERY CO. 
Box No. 21 Geneva, N. Y. 
Peach and Apple Trees 
For fall or spring planting. Prices right; stock 
right. MYER & SON, Bridgeville, Delaware 
EVERBEARING 
STRAWBERRY 
LARGEST in the WORLD 
Bears the first season. 
Continuous June to No¬ 
vember. Color deep rich 
crimson. Even through¬ 
out. No green tips. Com¬ 
bines flavor of pineapple 
and wild strawberry. 
Circular Free. 
H. F. DEW, Albion, Mich. 
English Walnut Trees 
Of the Variety "MAYETTE" 
A Lardy variety for cultivation 
in the New England and 
Northern States. Trees three 
years old; delivered by mail, 
$1.00 each. Write for descrip¬ 
tive circnlar. 
JAMES L. HALL 
Box 31 Kingston, Mass. 
MILLIONS g/ 
Strawberry Plants 
Thirty-nine of the earliest, latest, largest, most 
productive varieties— $3.25 per thousand. 
ASPARAGUS ROOTS— Palmetto, Argonteull, 
Barr’s, Conover’s—$2.90 per thousand. 
RASPBERRY, BLACKBERRY, CABBAGE 
PLANTS, FRUIT TREES. Prices reasonable. 
Large discounts on large orders. Catalooue Free. 
HARRY L. SQUIRE, Remsenburg, N.Y. 
FRUIT TREES 
S. S. WXL.EY tfc sou, : 
For a Quarter of a Century we have been repre¬ 
sented on this page, we again call vour attention 
to OUR DEPENDABLE FRUIT TREES. 
Our values are good because our trees are 
reliable and will cause you no disappoint¬ 
ment. Free catalog mailed on request. 
z IB, Cayxiga, NT.Y. 
MOST POPULAR COLLECTION EVER OFFERED 
1 Elberta Peach, 1 Harvest Apple, 1 Bartlett Pear, 1 
Seckel Pear, 1 Montmorency Sour Cherry, 1 Bing Sweet 
Cherry, 1 Orange Quince, 1 Maloney Prune, all 4 ft. high 
GRAPES; 1 Concord, blue; 1 Niagara, white; 1 Dela¬ 
ware, red. CURRANTS: 1 Perfection, red; 1 Cham¬ 
pion, black; 1 White Grape, best white. 4 Rhubarb 
roots. Each tree and plant perfect; all for SI.00. 
Every farm and village garden should have this col¬ 
lection, Send SI.00 today. The bargain will surprise you. 
Everybody write for FREE ILLUSTRATED CATALOG of 
GUARANTEED TRUE TO NAME TREES. 
Maloney Bros. & Wells Co., dansville, n. y. 
DANSVILUE’S PIONEER NURSERIES 
TRADE MARK BED. o. s. pat. office This trade mark will 
Guarantee 
Your 1912 
CORN CROPS 
Use Hubbard’s Soluble Corn and General Crops 
Manure broadcasted, and Hubbard’s Complete 
phosphate in the hill as a starter. The latter 
will often save a crop from early frost by giving 
a quick growth. 
Send at once for our Free 1912 Almanac and our Booklet on Soil Fertility 
They tell all about Bone Base Fertilizers and how to use them. For corn 
these fertilizers are unequaled. 
ROGERS & HUBBARD CO. 
MIDDLETOWN, CONN. 
