19 J 2. 
THE RURAI» NEW-YORKER 
o46 
NEW GROWTH AFTER “DISHORNING.” 
Isaac C. Rogers of Livingston Co., 
N. Y., sent us the specimens from which 
the engraving at Fig. 196 was made. 
It shows the results from dishorning a 
peach tree. This tree was sawed back 
and trimmed exactly as the stub at the 
left of the picture shows. One who had 
never seen a tree hacked in this way 
would never expect to find it alive after 
such rough surgery. Yet here is also 
shown the growth which started out 
after this cutting. Nature came for¬ 
ward to repair the injury and certainly 
did a good job. This new work will 
GROWTH AFTER DISHORNING. Fig. 19G. 
make a fine new top and restore the tree 
Many old peach trees make but a feeble 
growth and give small crops. The usual 
practice is to rip them out, yet the roots 
and trunk and lower limbs are still 
sound. By “dishorning” or cutting them 
back severely a new top will be made, 
and this new and vigorous wood will 
prolong the profitable life of the tree by 
several years. Of course some trees are 
too feeble and old to respond; but we 
should try them at least whenever the 
lower part seems to be sound. We have 
a number of “dishorning” experiments 
started this year with all sorts of trees. 
What Ails the Grapes ? 
F. IF. O., Riverpoint, R. I .—I have some 
hybrid grape vines, name unknown, which 
now fail to produce fruit. The vines are 
about 12 years old and were started from 
cuttings made from a vine that had pro¬ 
duced fruit right along. There are seven 
vines planted about live feet apart, and 
they were originally trained to a stake. 
When they grew too large a trellis was 
built for them. They bore fruit for a few 
years, but the last two seasons they acted 
queerly. Early last Spring they were pruned 
back, as well as the season before, to two 
buds of the previous year’s growth. 
Blossoms appeared in good numbers, and 
the outlook was for a nice crop of fruit, 
but about as the grapes began to set, and 
just after in some cases, the bunches 
seemed to turn brown and dry up and fell 
off the vines, hardly any remaining. The 
vines are apparently strong and healthy, 
making a tremendous growth each season, 
but no fruit matures. Just as the blossoms 
appeared the vines were covered with mos¬ 
quito netting to keep the rose bugs off. 
They are very fond of this particular 
blossom, and eat it greedily, forsaking 
other vines nearby. Some of the bunches 
withered and dried up before netting was 
removed, but there were a good many 
bunches left with grapes just set when 
netting was taken off. These too all dried 
up and fell off, mostly soon after. What 
would you suggest? The grapes are un¬ 
usually fine for preserving purposes and 
also make a fine wine, closely approaching 
claret in color and taste. I have not pruned 
the vines this Spring. 
Ans.—I t is extremely difficult to ex¬ 
plain the “sloughing off” of the flower 
clusters described in the above letter, 
without knowing more of the surround¬ 
ings of the vines in question; that is. if 
there are other varieties in the im¬ 
mediate vicinity, what they are, etc. 
From a distance it seems that the 
trouble might be due to a lack of 
fertilization of the flowers from an out¬ 
side source, the vines in question being 
self-sterile or imperfectly self-fertile, 
this condition having been aggravated 
by excessive nitrogen fertilization. It 
is generally known that certain varieties 
of grapes will not develop berries when 
pollinated by their own pollen, others 
will develop imperfect clusters, while 
some require no other pollen, develop¬ 
ing perfect clusters. The netting placed 
over the vines as a protection against 
the “rose bug” may have had some in¬ 
fluence on the entrance of foreign pol¬ 
len. Under certain adverse weather 
conditions at blooming time, such as 
a continued drought, dry winds or ex¬ 
cessive rains much falling of individual 
non-fertilized flowers occurs, resulting 
in the formation of very loose clusters. 
It would be well to withhold all nitroe 
genous manures and leave the vines 
uncovered. If the rose bug is numerous, 
spray the vines with the following mix¬ 
ture: Water, 100 gallons, stock molas¬ 
ses, one gallon; arsenate of lead, 10 
pounds. F. E. GLADWIN. 
The Mother Apple. 
Answering G. B. C.’s inquiry about 
Mother apple, I have studied the apple for 
10 years or more. It is the latest apple to 
bud out in Spring, so late you will think it 
dead ; best flavored apple I know of, and I 
have eaten almost all commercial varieties, 
Newtown, Spitzenburg, Delicious; it is good 
about August 15 to September 1 here, solid 
red in sun. It should be planted on 
sunny exposure or would be dull red. 
Charlottesville, Va. c.'h. b. 
We have grown Mother apples for more 
than 40 years, and prize it very highly for 
home use on account of the high flavor. 
Grown in Maine, it will keep until mid¬ 
winter. It requires high culture. Unless 
well grown it is like many of our best 
apples, almost worthless. Tree a moderate 
grower and very much inclined to canker, 
both trunk and limbs. Should be top- 
worked on some hardy stock. Not profitable 
as a market apple here. chas. s. pope. 
Maine. 
Regarding the Mother apple, page 356, 
my grandfather brought scions of what he 
called “Ma’am apple,” otherwise Mother 
apple, from his home in Sandwich, N. H., 
and there' were in my boyhood two trees 
on the old farm of this variety. They were 
reddish, somewhat striped, of about the 
shape of the Porter, as far as I can re¬ 
member, season about September, bore well, 
larg6 tree, quality fancy, good, rather 
sweet. I always supposed this was a fam¬ 
ily variety, originated in Sandwich or 
thereabout, and named for my grand¬ 
father's grandmother. At least that is the 
story told me, I think, by my father. 
Winchester, Mass. l. f. s. 
The “Mother” apple is«a common variety 
in the old home orchards of central and 
southern Pennsylvania, and is highly es¬ 
teemed for its dessert qualities, though I 
know of no one who is planting it commer¬ 
cially. It is of the Esopus Spitzenburg 
type, but ripens earlier, being in reality 
a Fall apple, though it may be kept till 
Christmas. In flavor it is quite like 
Esopus, and when well grown Is of a solid 
dark red color. The tree is not a strong 
grower, and though it is not uncommon to 
find trees 50 or more years old they are 
seldom sound, and are usually much smaller 
than Baldwin or other trees of standard 
varieties in the same orchard. Like King, 
it is subject to canker. Of late it has 
been in considerable demand for home 
planting, as the early plauted trees are 
rapidly going out It is a biennial bearer, 
and the fruit is somewhat smaller than 
Esopus. w. j. w. 
Penn. State College. 
Value of Wild Cherry. 
Having recently bought a small place 
here, I hope to make every foot of ground 
pay to settle the mortgage and support my 
family. On the property I find six big 
wild cherry trees plus many young growths. 
I am told that the trees bear well. Can 
you tell me the uses of wild cherry? Can 
I use the fruit? Can it be preserved like 
other fruit? Or would it pay me better 
to have the trees removed to use the 
ground otherwise? I should like to save 
the trees if possible. c. G. 
Ridgewood, N. J. 
Such trees have little if any value. A 
“wine” or cordial is made from the fruit, 
but there would be little or no sale for it. 
The trees attract insects and the fresli-cut 
leaves may poison stock if eaten freely. 
Unless those trees are greatly desired for 
shade we should remove them. 
The London Gardeners’ Chronicle gives 
an extended notice of “The Plums of New 
York,” In which it says: “Eighteen hun¬ 
dred years is a long period to wait for a 
book, and yet since the treatise of Athen- 
aeus about 220 A. D., the world has waited 
with exemplary patience for another treat¬ 
ise dedicated solely to the Plum. The 
task of supplying a second work has been 
left to the generosity of the American Gov¬ 
ernment and the skill of Professor Hedrick. 
These authorities have issued a great work 
on the subject, which will be received 
with delight the world over. Professor 
Hedrick’s book stands as a monument to 
the splendid help which the Government is 
ready to give to its subjects in America. 
The production of such a work as a ‘com¬ 
mercial proposition’ would be an impossibil¬ 
ity, and pomologists of all countries have 
reason to be grateful for this splendid 
monograph, and for the generosity which 
is shown in its distribution.” We are not 
told whether in these earlier days there 
were politicians who used these books as 
political “plums.” The chances are in 
favor of the proposition. 
“South Rend” 
* ■ m Watch 
You can get a South Bend 
Watch at prices ranging up to $75 
(in solid gold case). 
Write for the free book, “How 
Good Watches Are Made.” It is 
interesting from cover to cover. 
Glenwood, Iowa, Sept. 13,1911. 
South Bend Watch Co., South Bend, Ind. 
Gentlemen: This is to certify that some 
four years ago, while in business at 
Ackley, Iowa, I sold a 15J 18S South Bend 
Watch to Wm. Johns of that place, which 
ran so close to time that after fourteen 
months It was impossible to detect a 
second’s variation in its rate. Mr. Johns 
will verify my statement. 
Yours truly, F. C. MacManus. 
The sign shown here is usually displayed where 
South Bend Watches are sold. You’ll see it only in 
high-class retail jewelers’ stores. Its significance is this— 
A South Bend Watch will keep accurate time even when frozen 
in a cake of ice. This ability is built into the South Bend by the 
highest-priced watch skill in the world. 
A full year is often spent in the making otone South Bend Watch. 
Each is inspected 411 times. Each runs accurately for 700 hours 
before it leaves the factory. No watch can be more carefully pre¬ 
pared for your pocket. 
Yet that doesn’t satisfy us. 
We Sell Only Through Retail Jewelers 
These men are alone able to properly regulate a watch to 
the buyer’s personality. And that 
is necessary, as good watches run 
differently for different people. 
This is a fact, but it’s a long 
story to tell in an ad, so we’ll leave 
that to the jeweler himself. 
Ask your jeweler to explain it. 
Ask him to show you a South Bend 
Watch. 
The South Bend Watch Company 
41 Rowley Street (95) South Bend, Indiana 
Ask to see South Bend Watch Cases in which we mark the amount of gold they contain. 
Sherwin-Williams 
Paints ^-Varnishes 
FOR THE FARM 
When you paint your home, use the best paint— 
Sherwin -Williams Paint (Prepared) (S W P). It looks 
best, spreads easierunderthe brush,saves thepainters’ 
time, covers the greatest number of square feet to 
the gallon and wears the longest possible time. Con¬ 
sequently, you can use the best paint, S W P, for a 
less average cost per year than in using cheap ready 
mixed or hand mixed lead and oil. 
Sold by dealers everywhere. Ask for color card 9 
Address all inquiries to The Sherwin-Williams Co., 635 Canal Road, N.W., Cleveland, Ohio 
MAKE SURE OF A GOOD 
POTATO CROP THIS YEAR 
Use Hubbard’s 
“Bone Base” Fertilizers 
and take no chances 
Ociober 25, 1911 
The Rogers & Hubbard Co., 
Middletown, Conn. 
Gentlemen: 
On 14 acres of land, using 1,000 pounds of 
Hubbard's “ Bone Base ” Soluble Potato Manure 
broadcast and 500 pounds of Hubbard’s “ Bone Base" 
Potato Phosphate in the hill per acre, we raised 3,763 
bushels of potatoes. 
Yours truly, 
Thomas P. Crowe 
TRADE MARK REG. U. S. PAT. OFFICE 
_ October 18, 1911 
The Rogers & Hubbard Co., 
Middletown, Conn. 
Gentlemen: 
When I planted my potatoes this year 1 found that 
I had sold myself short of Hubbard’s and went to a 
neighbor and got enough of another brand to finish the 
piece. The rows planted on Hubbard’s “Bone Base" 
Potato Phosphate yielded 1 1-2 bushels more than the 
other, and 1 estimate the difference at fully 40 bushels 
per acre. Yours truly, 
Judson R. Potter 
Northumberland, N. H. 
Our 1912 Almanac FREE 
Send for it today and our book¬ 
let on Soil Fertility. They will 
help you on your own problems. 
Rogers & Hubbard Co. 
Middletown, Conn. 
