1912. 
THE RURAL HEW-YOK.KER 
ANOTHER TREE “DOPE.” 
Kleckner’s Fertilizing Scale Treatment. 
Fruit growers have been warned a countless num¬ 
ber of times by the agricultural press to have nothing 
to do with patent tree “dopes” and medicines, and 
yet a new up-to-date fake is still profitable. We have 
had powders and liquids as tree medicines of wonder¬ 
ful power, and now we have capsules. It is not long 
since that many fruit trees had to stand a dose of 
carbolic acid, now many are being Klecknerized, 
and it is a question as to which is the worst treat¬ 
ment for the tree. “Kleckner's Fertilizing Scale 
Treatment,” however, is certainly the most vicious 
tree “dope” that has been put out in a long time, 
and is manufactured at Allentown, Pa. The treat¬ 
ment is put up in capsule form, some of which con¬ 
tain a white material and others a yellow compound. 
One white and one yellow capsule make up a com¬ 
plete treatment for a single tree. The capsules are 
packed in sawdust, in tin cans, holding 15 applica¬ 
tions. 
This material was first advanced as a remedy for 
scale and as a tree fertilizer, but as the scale is not 
now feared by fruit growers the material is now said 
to prevent the attacks of such insects as borers and 
Codling moth, and to cure such diseases as peach 
yellows. The writer recently visited several orchards 
at Lebanon, N. J., and examined both peach and apple 
trees which had been treated by Mr. Kleckner. He 
also had a chance to meet Mr. Kleckner and receive 
direct from him statements as to the qualities of his 
remedy. It was claimed by Mr. Kleckner that his 
treatment did not injure the tree in any way; that 
NORMAL FRUIT SPURS OF BEN DAVIS. Fig. 250. 
after the materials were absorbed by the tree it gave 
off fumes which kept all insects away. When ques¬ 
tioned if this would not keep bees away from the 
trees, he replied that it would, but that insects were 
not necessary for the pollination of our fruit tree blos¬ 
soms. It was also stated by Air. Kleckner, that no 
peach trees treated by him had been affected with 
peach leaf-curl, and that his remedy would cure peach 
yellows. He also stated that his remedy would 
fertilize and invigorate the tree, which would enable 
it to throw off disease. 
Mr. Kleckner also said that there was a disease 
attacking apple trees that was of the same nature as 
the chestnut blight; that it was the cause of the thick¬ 
ened growths upon the apple spurs as illustrated by 
big. 256; that these thickened spurs were a prema¬ 
ture growth which would finally cause the death of 
the tree if they were not pruned off. With proper 
pruning and the application of his remedy, however, 
the disease would be controlled. This is a good 
illustration of the nonsense or ignorance that is 
handed out to the public by some so-called “tree 
specialists.’ They are either ignorant of the common 
principles of tree growth or wilfully mislead the pub¬ 
lic. Up-to-date fruit growers know that some varie¬ 
ties of apples, such as Ben Davis, have a thickened 
fruit spur wherever an apple is produced. This is a 
perfectly normal and healthy development with these 
varieties, and is neither caused by disease nor prema¬ 
ture growth as stated by Air. Kleckner. Fig. 256 illus¬ 
trates three normal Ben Davis spurs, which have 
borne apples, and the statement that a disease is at¬ 
tacking apples that is of the same nature as chestnut 
blight is entirely erroneous. 
An examination of peach and apple trees about 
Lebanon, N. J., which have been treated by Mr. 
Kleckner also reveals the fact that these trees have 
been severely injured. Not only is the bark killed 
for a considerable distance above the point of treat¬ 
ment, but the sap wood is also seriously affected, 
sometimes for a depth of more than an inch into the 
trunk of the tree. Fig. 257 shows a section of the 
trunk of a peach tree which has been treated by Mr. 
Kleckner and how the bark has been injured. The 
photograph does not begin to reveal the extent of 
the injury, however. It also shows a section of the 
trunk of another peach tree which was cut well above 
the point of treatment and shows how destructive 
the material is to plant tissue. Such injuries make 
SECTIONS OF INJURED TREES. Fig. 257. 
the trees susceptible to the attacks of fungi and 
borers and some will be sure to receive permanent 
injury. 
Now, as to the treatment itself. In a general way, 
it consists of cutting out a section of bark on the 
trunk of a tree, as illustrated by Fig. 258 and insert¬ 
ing one yellow and one white capsule under the edge 
of the bark and placing the square section of bark 
removed back in place, tacking it down and covering 
the whole with grafting wax as illustrated by Fig. 259. 
An examination of the white capsule shows the ma¬ 
terial to be potassium cyanide and the yellow capsule 
to be ferric chloride, which is an acid. Cyanide of 
potassium alone is destructive to plant tissue and 
ferric chloride alone also causes injury. Alaterial 
from both the yellow and the white capsules and a 
combination of the two materials inserted into a 
geranium stem caused serious and permanent injury 
within 48 hours. 1 he vicious and destructive nature 
of these materials is bad enough in itself, but they 
also fail in their purpose. One white and one yellow 
capsule were dissolved in a jar of water and several 
stems of plants and also an entire pomegranate plant, 
affected with plant lice and mealy bug, were placed 
in the solution. The mealy bug and plant lice are 
sucking insects and should be killed if any insects 
would be. The pomegranate plant was entirely dead 
in less than 60 hours and yet the mealy bugs were 
THE TREE DOPER’S OUTFIT. Fig. 258. 
alive. Similar results were secured with solutions 
of cyanide of potassium on various kinds of plants. 
The claim by Air. Kleckner that his treatment is 
a tree fertilizer that will fertilize and invigorate the 
tree is preposterous. That the tree will give off 
fumes that will keep all insects away is equally ridicu¬ 
lous. The claim that it will not injure the tree is 
without foundation. The material kills plant tissue 
679 
wherever it is absorbed and causes severe and perma¬ 
nent injury. Air. Kleckner has treated trees in New 
Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware with this vicious 
and worthless treatment. If fruit growers would 
spend the money they waste on these worthless treat¬ 
ments for the proper spraying of their trees, modern 
orchard practice would develop much more rapidly. 
Afany so-called tree specialists are going about the 
country to-day, who have no scientific training and 
who do not even know the principles of plant growth, 
and yet the public often accepts their theories and 
allows them to treat valuable trees. Let such speci¬ 
alists practice on your stone fence or on the barn 
door, but have mercy on your trees. m. a. blake. 
N. J. Experiment Station. 
BACK TO THE LAND IN ILLINOIS. 
I call our little place a cooperative farm of mother 
and the children—no voters in it. We have had a 
hard struggle, but the tide seems to be turning now. 
Five years ago I moved onto 80 acres of land, it being 
a part of a tract called “the barrens.” It consists of 
sand knolls, second growth Jack oaks and sloughs. 
The first three years here we did not raise corn 
enough to feed, and leeches killed all our young poul¬ 
try. The poultry would swallow them, and the leech 
would stick in the crop with fatal results. A wolf 
killed our two laying geese. The first year, in 1910. we 
raised about 200 bushels corn, and last year 400 bush¬ 
els. We have drained the slough, and the wolf was 
shot, so now we can raise poultry. We have a milk- 
trade now of 33 bottles, which the 15-year-old girl 
cares for, getting it to the village, U/ 2 miles away, by 
PEACH TREE FULLY “DOPED.” FiG, 259. 
5 A. M. this month. The oldest girl is running an 
incubator, and the next girl is teaching her first term 
of school. The 17-year-old boy is plowing among the 
stumps. I get up in the morning, milk the four 
cows, get the milk ready for girl, clean stables, cut 
firewood and do general house work. We are up by 
4.30 and go to bed at dark this month, and we are all 
contented. There is not another house on this section, 
just ours. We are not lonesome. We have a bookcase 
with 300 books, the accumulation of 35 years, and 
we go to church every Sunday if possible. The R. 
N.-Y. has visited us once a week for about 20 years. 
Kankakee Co., Ill. a. w. 
Note.—The R. N.-Y. goes everywhere—into homes 
of the wealthy and cultured people, but we have a pe¬ 
culiar satisfaction in feeling that the paper helps in 
such homes as this. 
THE COW’S BEST FRIEND.—Not long ago a 
man who owned a herd of purebred cattle up on one 
of the Northwestern’s lines in Wisconsin, had oc¬ 
casion to turn the animals over to the care of a 
tenant for the Winter. It wasn’t long, however, until 
the landlord discovered that the tenant had cut a 
hole in the ice on the lake, and was compelling his 
cows to stand shivering while they took up the 
frigid draughts. The owner of the herd told his 
tenant that it would make a difference of something 
like $5 a month in his cream check in his own favor 
if he would pump the water for the herd out of a 
deep well, the temperature of the water being much 
better suited for such purpose. The man said he 
wouldn’t do it, it was too much trouble, but his wife 
said that after that the cows would get water from 
the well no matter whether it would bring in more 
money'or not. If her liege lord wouldn’t do it, she 
would, and she did. It is from this little story 
founded on fact, as told by the herd owner himself, 
that we are moved to mark the picture shown at 
Fig. 254 with a caption that may not always be true, 
but is true sufficiently often to cause a man to sit 
up and take notice. j. l. graff. 
Illinois. 
