1912. 
TH H) RURAL, NEW-YORKER 
026 
Ruralisms 
Missouri Fruit Notes. 
Dishorning Peach Trees. —The se¬ 
vere Winter has not only killed the 
buds but much of the wood of peach 
trees. Here in southeast Missouri the 
minimum temperature was 16 below 
zero. In consequence of wood injury 
there will be a great deal of dishorning 
practiced. Some years ago I dishorned 
a number of five-year-old trees that had 
been badly damaged by the scale. The 
main limbs were cut back to stubs a foot 
or so long. The operation was a suc¬ 
cess. Vigorous shoots put out and 
grew from three to live feet in length 
and formed some fruit buds. A few 
of these were broken off by high winds, 
and for this reason it is best not to thin 
them completely until the second year. 
Himalaya Blackberry. — Evidence 
continues to accumulate that the .Him¬ 
alaya blackberry that is so successful in 
California is not adapted to the region 
east of the Rockies. It is not hardy in 
Missouri, and a friend in Texas writes 
me that it is worthless in his district. 
There appear to be two varieties, the 
round and cut-leaved. I have tried 
both, and there seems to be no difference 
in the degree of hardiness. Yet at Jud- 
sonia, in central Arkansas, I am told of 
a perennial blackberry which answers all 
the description of the Himalaya and 
which has been bearing good crops for 
a number of years. The Loganberry 
and Mammoth blackberry of California 
are also not hardy here except in very 
mild Winters. I notice, however, that 
the Himalaya is being advertised as 
perfectly hardy by persons who certainly 
must be aware that they are falsifying. 
It seems to me that one of the duties 
of a State horticultural society is to 
warn its members and the public against 
such deceptions and endeavor to pro¬ 
tect them against fraud, and another 
duty should be to prosecute and drive 
out of their State, nurseries whose sole 
object is to swindle their customers. 
Good Fruit Prospects. —Despite the 
hard Winter I have never seen a much 
better prospect for all kinds of fruit 
with the exception of peaches and prob¬ 
ably pears. Apples, cherries and plums 
are all setting a full crop. Small fruits are 
just as promising. Early Harvest black¬ 
berry, which is classed by some as not 
very hardy, is in fine condition; so are 
all the other sorts except Early King, 
which, much to my surprise, was killed 
back to about 50 per cent of its wood. 
This is the first time in 10 years that I 
ever saw it damaged. The Ward, Mer- 
sereau, Erie and Eldorado are unin¬ 
jured. The red raspberry King was 
seriously hurt, among the worst, while 
Cuthbert, Loudon, Miller and the new 
everbearer, St. Regis, are all right. 
Gooseberries and currants are in fine 
shape. There is a fair crop of apricots, 
although they are generally put in the 
same class as peaches. Of my many 
different varieties of grapes I do not 
find a single one killed back; all are 
thrifty except that in some cases the 
heavy crop of last year combined with 
the drought proved a heavy strain on 
the vitality of the vines, and some of 
them made only a weak growth. In 
such cases they should be pruned_ cor¬ 
respondingly closely, so as to afford 
them a chance to recover under a light 
set of fruit. 
Plum-Peach Hybrid.— I have in my 
collection a plum-peach hybrid, a Bur¬ 
bank crossed with an Elberta, and the 
work of Louis Hubach of Judsonia, Ark. 
The tree shows the characteristics of its 
two parents convincingly enough, but 
it is proving barren. It blossoms spar¬ 
ingly but fails to set fruit. The original 
tree bore one specimen some years ago, 
quite large and free from peach down. 
Hubach has been trying to get time to 
make a further cross for fruitfulness. 
Strawberries. —Strawberries promise 
a fine crop. Where planted on well- 
drained soil and mulched, they emerged 
from the Winter snows in excellent con¬ 
dition. For several years past the sea¬ 
son has been marred by frosts, cold 
rains and drought, but early berries are 
now as large as cranberries, and the 
chances are that no frosts will prevent 
a perfect set of fruit. A really good 
season will be warmly welcomed by all 
growers even though it bring with it 
low prices and a difficult market, while 
new varieties will be given an opportu¬ 
nity to reveal their true qualities. 
Acid Soil. —In regard to the affinity 
of the strawberry for acid or alkaline 
soils, I have some data that bears on 
the discussion of this subject in The 
R. N.-Y. The strawberry had always 
done finely on this soil until some years 
ago I was tempted by the free gift of 
wood ashes at a neighboring lime kiln. 
I hauled a number of loads of this and 
found a good deal of lime mixed with 
the ashes. The next strawberries set on 
land treated with these ashes were al¬ 
most a total failure, the plants dying 
over a great part of the rows. Only 
one variety withstood this test. Strange 
to say, the Bederwood showed little 
sign of these new soil components, al¬ 
though its row extended right through 
several dead areas. On other land not 
so heavily treated the Marshall, for ex¬ 
ample, which had been our leader, ab¬ 
solutely refused to grow thriftily or to 
bear profitably, and I agree with Hope 
Farm that this grand berry is unusually 
susceptible to lime. That was a les¬ 
son I shall not soon forget, and though 
I should not fear to top-dress lightly 
with pure wood ashes, I should never 
apply them at all thickly and lime I 
should avoid as a regular strawberry 
poison. 
California Privet. —Privet hedges, I 
notice, have been killed to the ground 
by the 16 degrees below, but are sprout¬ 
ing out from their crowns. We ought 
to be able to ascertain just about what 
degree of low temperature suffices to 
kill back this most popular of all hedge 
plants. There will be some expense in 
cutting off the dead tops, but the rapid 
growth of the privet will restore its 
green lines to the landscape in one sea¬ 
son. 
Grapes and Strawberries. —I have 
found that strawberry plants and young 
grape vines make a good combination. 
As the grapes do not bear till the third 
year, there is a great waste of ground 
if nothing else is planted. The straw¬ 
berries are planted both in the rows be¬ 
tween the grapes, two to each space, 
and in a solid row in the middles be¬ 
tween the rows. l. r. Johnson. 
Cape Girardeau Co., Mo. 
Hardiness of California Privet. 
Referring to the note about the hardi¬ 
ness of California privet, on page 521, 
it is undoubtedly a fact that this largely- 
used hedge plant is cut down to the 
ground with greater or less frequencj 
as far south as Washington, D. C. I 
have been engaged for some years in 
laying out country estates and town gar¬ 
dens, and have invariably tried to in¬ 
duce owners not to have privet for their 
hedges. At its best it is commonplace; 
as usually sheared there is nothing artis¬ 
tically beautiful about it, and obviously 
it is not reliable as to hardiness.. When 
l have had a free hand have always 
used Berberis Thunbergii, Japan bar¬ 
berry, in cases where great height in 
the hedge is not required. Its hardi¬ 
ness is unquestionable and it is beauti¬ 
ful at all seasons. During the Winter 
it is covered with scarlet fruit which 
persists until after the Spring leaves 
appear, the latter breaking forth very 
early. It does not lend itself to shear¬ 
ing, but no plant is ever increased in 
beauty by being sheared. It is time that 
garden lovers should divest their minds 
of the wrong idea that privet is the 
only hedge plant, as there are many 
other suitable plants much more beau¬ 
tiful from every point of view, as well 
as being cast iron as to hardiness. 
Pennsylvania. Arthur smith. 
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