1912. 
7H3 
ENGLISH WALNUTS IN MICHIGAN. 
H. T., Sodus, Mich .—I would like the 
opinion of Prof. Van Deman on the hardi¬ 
ness of the English walnut for southwest¬ 
ern Michigan, particularly Berrien County 
and the lake shore. The thermometer regis¬ 
tered 15 degrees below zero on one or two 
occasions this Winter. The Pomeroy and 
one or two other varieties of English wal¬ 
nuts are on the market reported to be per¬ 
fectly hardy. Have these varieties been 
known to stand low temperatures without 
injury? Prof. Budd in his manual says 
that in the cold dry interior of Central 
Asia walnuts are grown extensively, and 
speaks of a variety at Ames, Iowa, grown 
from nuts gathered at Saratov in south 
Russia that has proven far hardier than 
the peach and perfectly hardy in Missouri, 
lias there been any development along this 
line recently? Our soil is a typical Black 
walnut and Sugar maple soil, and there 
are many walnut trees still standing on the 
hillsides. We can get black walnut seed¬ 
lings from our forestry department for $5 
per thousand, and we thought of planting 
our hillsides and other out of way places 
and top-working them to English nuts. 
Some definite information as to the proper 
time and the most reliable methods would 
be greatly appreciated. Regarding this, 
Prof. Budd says: “The most perfect suc¬ 
cess known to the writer has been reached 
by using young thrifty stocks and insert¬ 
ing the grafts under the bark as soon as 
the bark can be ra'ised when the buds are 
well started. The scions are also started 
and cut as used. The wound is waxed as 
well as the end of the scion. A paper sack 
is then tied tightly over the stock and 
scion to lessen evaporation. This is the 
favorite method of grafting the oaks and 
all the tree growing species of the nut 
family in eastern and western Europe. The 
plan known as ring or flute budding has 
also given good results in western Europe 
and in California.” The prong-grafting 
recommended by the United States bulletin 
on nut culture seems to be quite similar 
to the bark-grafting method. The “Ameri¬ 
can Fruit Culturist” also recommends the 
sap wood cleft-grafting. 
Ans.— Just what can be done in the 
way of growing the foreign walnuts in 
Michigan and other regions of similar 
climatic conditions is yet to be learned, 
in great measure at least. That some 
varieties of the Persian (so-called 
English) species, Juglans regia, have 
endured these conditions there is no 
doubt. The Pomeroy strain that is 
grown in Western New York is one 
of the many that are growing in various 
part of the country. Some of the best 
of them are in Pennsylvania, New Jer¬ 
sey and Maryland. Up to now there 
have been almost no grafted or budded 
trees of any of these hardy varieties 
grown and offered for sale, but seed¬ 
lings instead. . These seedlings may 
prove to be quite similar to the originals 
but the only way to have trees of the 
true varieties is by grafting or budding 
them, and the best stocks are the native 
American walnuts. The California 
species, Juglans California, has been 
used more than any other and it has 
proved very satisfactory in that State, 
the union being perfect and the growth 
of the trees as vigorous or more so 
than trees on their own roots. And 
the Texas species, J. rupestris, is also 
very well suited as a stock for the 
varieties of J. regia, as I know by re¬ 
peated trials. The union is good and 
the root system splendid. On the com¬ 
mon black walnut roots, J. nigra, the 
foreign species seems to do very well, 
as I also - know by trial. How it (J. 
regia) will do well on the butternut 
or white walnut (J. cinerea, is a ques¬ 
tion yet to be decided by experiment, 
but I believe this stock will prove a 
very good one and it is the hardiest 
of all the walnuts. The Japanese and 
Chinese walnuts, J. Sieboldii and J. 
J. Manchurica, are proving hardy in 
America and may make good stocks 
for the cultivated species, but so far 
as I know it has not been tried, ex¬ 
cept by myself in a small way and that 
without success so far. Regarding the 
hardiness of J. regia in Europe we 
know that it is very commonly grown 
in France, Italy, Spain and Germany 
and it is also grown in Southern Rus¬ 
sia, as Prof. Budd and others have 
observed, and it may be that the varie¬ 
ties from there are growing in Iowa 
and Missouri, but I know nothing of 
this matter. As to propagation I have 
had the most success with collar graft¬ 
ing with six-inch scions, and backing 
up with soil to their tips; and patch 
budding in early Summer with dor¬ 
mant buds has proved to be quite suc¬ 
cessful. I have also succeeded with 
bark-grafting late in the Spring, after 
growth had started considerably but al¬ 
ways with scions that had been kept 
dormant in damp cold storage. 
*H. E. VAN DEMAN. 
THE RURAt NEW-YORKER 
GREENHOUSE HEATING. 
H. M. D., South Bend, Ind .—I have a 
small greenhouse 12 by 50 feet, and built 
with double walls, which I have been heat¬ 
ing with wood stoves. This method has 
not been very satisfactory. I am planning 
something better and here is my plan. 
Please set me right where I am wrong. 
Experienced greenhouse men tell me that a 
steam heating system is much cheaper than 
a hot-water system, as it requires much 
less piping. As I have a one horse-power 
steam boiler and engine which I use to run 
a feed grinder, corn sheller and cream sep¬ 
arator, I have planned to move this to 
one end of the greenhouse and run two 
lines of 1%-inch pipes around the house. 
Will this plan furnish enough heat to keep 
the temperature at 45 or 50 degrees in 
zero weather? IIow much steam must I 
have in the evening in order to keep up 
the required heat until morning in zero 
weather? If a one horse-power boiler would 
not be large enough in zero weather, would 
it be sufficient in March and April, when 
here in this (extreme northern) part of 
Indiana, the temperature rarely goes lower 
than 15 or 20 degrees above zero? 
Ans.— Your greenhouse being but 12 
by 50 feet and built with double walls, 
provided the overhead work is well 
done; is a very easy building to heat. 
The most satisfactory as well as the 
most economical heating system would 
be hot water furnished by a small hot- 
water boiler and conducted around the 
greenhouse beneath the benches by two 
three-inch pipes. It will cost a little 
more to install a system of this kind 
than steam but the cost of heating will 
be considerably lower. With hot water 
it is an easy matter to maintain a tem¬ 
perature of from 45 to 50 degrees even 
in zero weather. It is very doubtful 
about the one-horse power boiler being 
able to heat the greenhouse in very 
cold weather. You should have at least 
a two horse-power boiler, and by using 
two runs of l]4-bich pipe with from 
three to five pounds of steam upon the 
boiler you should have a nice tempera¬ 
ture in your greenhouse in the very 
coldest weather. By properly controll¬ 
ing your pipes with valves and regulat¬ 
ing your fire this system will be just 
the thing for the Spring as well as the 
Winter months. You will do well, 
however, to prefer the hot-water sys¬ 
tem. j. M. L. 
The Cut Photograph Humbug. 
A while ago the very fake you have writ¬ 
ten up about the picture enlarging, was 
along here. I was certain when the man 
tried to show his work to me that it was 
the very same. He would take the photo¬ 
graphs to be enlarged, and give a frame. 
He had to have half paid down and the 
rest when the pictures were delivered, or 
by paying the whole in advance one could 
have something extra done. To a man who 
objected to paying down anything he said, 
“Do I look like a man that would do a 
dishonest thing?” He made everyone who 
was at all interested in pictures believe 
that he was the soul of honesty. it is 
surprising what a number of people he de¬ 
ceived, right along this country road a 
short distance ! He took the photographs, 
and the money, and gave his card, "The 
North American Art Co.,” and has never 
been seen since. The people have just 
waked up to the fact that he gave nobody's 
name or address, so they cannot even try 
to write to him ! I was not interested in 
pictures any way, but if I had been should 
not have let a man get away with money 
without giving his name. Feeling sure of 
what he was at the time he was here, 
what could I have done about it? Could 
1 have taken any steps to stop him? I 
nad not the least idea that my neighbor?!, 
even including an elderly, successful and 
"close” business man, would bite at such a 
bait. a. e. l. 
Massachusetts. 
The Bloodhound as a Farm Dog. 
Some families of bloodhounds are the 
best of watch dogs; at least that has been 
our experience with them. Usually they 
are of a gentle disposition and their fierce¬ 
ness is in their looks and noise. I have 
known a “hobo” to take off his hat and 
back all the way. to the highway with our 
dog quietly following him out. At night 
the baying of a bloodhound is enough to 
scare away trespassers. There is no doubt 
a “moral effect” in the well-known fact that 
such a dog can be laid on the trail of a 
thief and will find him, that keeps many 
away from a house where a bloodhound is 
kept. Their evidence is accepted in court. 
They are brave and will fight any odds, 
and although naturally gentle, will not 
stand beating, nor will they ever forget an 
injury, and any man who has injured one 
should always beware of that dog. 
New- York. F. Q. w. 
Care of Easter Lily. 
I am anxious to know how to care for a 
splendid Easter lily bulb that bore three 
immense blossoms and now seems to be 
sprouting again at its base since cutting 
the blossoms. L. F. s. 
Florists do not save lily bulbs after forc¬ 
ing, but where it is a good strong bulb it 
is quite worth while for an amateur to do 
so. The plant should have abundance of 
sunlight and be well watered during the 
growing season, which should cease about 
August, when the foliage will become yel¬ 
low and gradually wither. Very diluted 
liquid manure once a week while growth is 
being made will be helpful in preparing the 
bulb for the next season’s growth. It 
should be left in the pot, not planted out, 
but the pot may be plunged in the border 
somewhere. When the leaves begin to yel¬ 
low water should be gradually withheld, 
and when the stems are dead the pot may 
be stored in the cellar, where it will not 
dry out entirely, until time to repot. In 
October shake the earth off the bulb, and 
plant in a clean pot. using two-thirds gar¬ 
den soil and one-third manure, finely 
rotted. Set the bulb in the center of the 
pot. with two inches of space above it; 
just barely cover with soil. More soil is 
added later as a mulch in which the stem 
roots run. Keep the pot in a cool cellar 
or plunged in a frame outside until roots 
are well formed, when it may be brought 
inside. 
The English Sparrow Pest. 
I read with interest the little notice on 
page 663 referring to the shooting of Eng¬ 
lish sparrows and would relate our experi¬ 
ence at Irenia. Six or eight years ago 
we put up boxes for the house wrens, and 
had the satisfaction of seeing them occupied 
each Spring by our little friends. One box 
had a rather large hole in it to admit the 
birds, and on a bright Spring morning we 
were surprised by a great scolding on the 
part of the wrens and on investigation 
found that an English sparrow had ousted 
the wrens from their home. Presently the 
cock sparrow emerged from the house and 
was promptly shot, and during that season 
every sparrow that appeared was treated in 
like manner, and since then no sparrow 
has attempted to build on the premises. If 
a stray one visits the place from our neigh¬ 
bor’s farm, it does not tarry long enough 
for us to get the guns, but hurries away to 
a safe retreat on the next farm, and we 
have never had an English sparrow’s nest 
about the place since we owned it. 
Michigan. iierman haupt, jr. 
Krauser and Red Doctor Apples. 
Would you give me some information of 
the Krauser and Red Doctor apples, which 
I have seen mentioned in your paper? 
I am looking for something to be a good 
keeper. On Long Island I find the R. I. 
Greening to ripen too early and the Bald¬ 
win is a failure as regards keeping and 
productiveness. The Krauser and Red Doc¬ 
tor are, I believe, of Pennsylvania origin, 
and with all apples from that State I 
have had good success. 
Roslyn. N. Y. s. L. a. 
The Krauser apple originated in Penn¬ 
sylvania and is of medium size, red striped, 
of very good quality and keeps well. The 
tree is said to be a good bearer, and it 
may prove to be a good variety to grow 
on Long Island, although it is so rarely 
grown that there is little evidence to base 
an opinion upon. The York Stripe is an¬ 
other variety of Pennsylvania origin that 
is well liked almost everywhe<» that it has 
been tried, and I would suggest that it be 
planted by S. L. A., or top-grafted to> bring 
it into bearing soon, that its value may be 
tested as soon as possible. 
H. E. VAN DEMAN. 
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