1912. 
A LIST OF DWARF FRUITS. 
1. Friendship Heights is a suburb of Washington, D. C. 
I have a plot 60 by 24 feet for fruit, wish to plant all 
dwarfs, owing to small space. By hexagonal plan I can 
put in 20 trees, nine feet three inches apart. Soil is 
poor, mixed with clay and sand, high, and sloping. I wish 
fruit that will ripen before June 15 (as cherries), or after 
September 15, as we shall probably be away from June 15 
to September 15. Would you suggest varieties that will 
meet, as nearly as may be, these requirements in the order 
of your preference?. I prefer to plant but one of each 
variety, thus giving a greater variety for home use. Five 
varieties of apples, three of cherries (one sweet, two sour), 
three of pears, three of peaches, three of plums, three of 
quinces, total 20. Also six varieties of grapes, three 
black, two red, one white. Would it be advisable to plant 
raspberries, blackberries, currants, etc., in clusters, midway 
between trees, thus making the spacing about four feet, 
seven inches each way? 2. What are the comparative 
merits of hemlock, spruce, Norway spruce, arbor vitae, 
and privet, for hedge surrounding lawn? 3. Several suit¬ 
able vines (evergreen preferred), .or other covering, for 
terrace, eight feet high, adjacent to street. i. w. h. 
Washington, D. C. 
1. The plan of setting dwarf trees on so small a 
lot as that described is 
a good one, and, besides, 
it will be very interest¬ 
ing to watch their de¬ 
velopment. By good 
manuring and deep 
working of the soil it 
can be put in fair condi¬ 
tion for fruit trees and 
a successful fruit garden 
made on even so poor a 
soil as the District of 
Columbia. I know how 
poor it is from a long 
residence there and from 
what I have grown, but 
there is a lot of latent 
fertility in the apparently 
almost poverty-stricken 
soil and plenty of rich 
humus and stirring 'will 
bring it into action. 
Raspberries, blackber¬ 
ries, strawberries, cur¬ 
rants and grapes all do 
well there in good soil 
and I have grown all 
of them, except black¬ 
berries, in my back yard 
within the city limits of 
Washington. They .can 
be grown between the 
dwarf trees for a time 
at least, although the 
limited spaces between 
them will require very 
close attention and 
liberal manuring. A list 
of trees that will ripen 
their fruit before June 
IS and after September 
15 will force almost all 
of them to be of such 
kinds as will ripen dur¬ 
ing the latest period. 
Possibly a few cherry 
trees will ripen their 
fruit before the 15th of 
June, and of those that 
are classed sweet the 
Purple Guigne is the 
very earliest and Rich¬ 
mond of the sour class. 
But there are no cherry 
trees that are strictly 
dwarf. Those budded on 
on the Mahaleb are the 
nearest to being so. 
Dwarf apple trees are 
TWO MAINE FARM GIRLS AND THEIR POULTRY. Fig. 416. 
IN THE WAKE OF A CYCLONE IN CENTRAL NEW YORK. Fig. 417. 
to be had and I would 
select those on the Doucin stock. In setting five trees 
the varieties should all be Fall varieties, that they 
may be used by the family fresh from the trees. 
Winter apples can be bought in the market later. 
There should be one tree each of Gravenstein, Fall 
Pippin, Buckingham, Wealthy and Grimes, and for 
additional kinds or second choice that may be sub¬ 
stituted for any of these of which trees cannot be 
supplied, the Maiden Blush, Jersey Sweet, Hubbards- 
ton, Mother and Jonathan will be excellent. Of 
pears the Seckel, Bartlett and Angouleme are good, 
with Howell, Louise Bonne and Anjou as second 
choice. All these are pears of excellent quality and 
will ripen at Washington from September 15 on. 
Only very late peaches can be used to come in at 
that season. There are no dwarf peach stocks, so 
far as I know, but the trees can be cut back severely 
every year and a dwarf habit forced upon them. 
This pruning will have to be done very judiciously to 
THE) RURAL NEW-YORKER 
maintain the needed vigor and yet keep the trees 
within the narrow bounds prescribed. They must be 
headed very low and topped back severely. The va¬ 
rieties may be Salway, Henrietta and Heath Cling, 
with Smock, Wilkins and Lemon Cling as substitutes. 
Of plum trees the same is true as of peach trees, 
for there is no dwarf stock so far as I know, and 
severe and skillful pruning will have to be done in¬ 
stead. There are several classes of plums that suc¬ 
ceed at Washington, but the less rampant growers 
are those to be desired in this case. Lombard, Im¬ 
perial and French Damson are good kinds. All va¬ 
rieties of the quince are dwarfish in habit. Orange, 
Meech and Champion all ripen late enough. 
Grapevines should not be planted among the trees 
but along the fence or wherever they can have room 
to run and expand their branches with some freedom. 
The list of varieties that succeed is very large. Of 
the black kinds no three are better than Concord, 
Campbell and Jewell; of red varieties the Delaware 
and Brighton, and for one white kind the Green. 
©96 
but they are of too large growth to endure the severe 
cutting back that they should have, except in a 
larger place than that for which the inquirer desires 
his hedges. Arbor vitae is not so rank a grower 
and bears severe pruning well, but a cooler climate 
suits it better and the hot Summers sometimes in¬ 
jure the trees and make ugly patches in the hedges. 
Some of the hardier kinds of the • Biota are better 
suited to this use. The purple-leaved barberry makes 
a very beautiful hedge in that climate, as may be 
seen in a few places about Washington. I know one 
near the office of the gardener of the Department 
of Agriculture, and it would be well to go there to 
see it and consult with Mr. Burns, the superintend¬ 
ent. He will gladly show callers anything on the 
grounds, and as there are many kinds of evergreens 
there, some of them near his office, it would be easy 
to get valuable information about them. There are 
Biotas, Thujas, junipers, etc., and from among them 
more than one might be selected that would be suit¬ 
able for the desired use. Such as are: of slow and 
compact growth and that 
will safely endure the 
climatic and soil condi¬ 
tions of that region are 
the kinds to plant. 
3. As a covering for a 
terrace next to the 
street, if something very 
low is desired that will 
remain green all Winter, 
there is nothing better 
that I think of than the 
old-fashioned creeping 
myrtle (Vinca). It has 
dark green foliage that 
holds its color well and 
the little blue flowers are 
attractive. It is hardy, 
sturdy, will prevent 
washing of soil and is 
cheap. On a stone wall 
the Japanese Ampel- 
opisis stands first in my 
estimation, and its 
Autumn coloring is 
simply gorgeous. 
H. E. VAN DEMAN. 
Mountain is excellent. The strawberry will claim 
first attention among the small fruits. These should 
be grown in hills in so close and intensely cultivated 
a plot. The Aroma, Warfield and Marshall are 
among the very good ones, but a larger number of 
kinds may be easily grown. The Cuthbert and Car¬ 
dinal are two of the best red raspberries, and Kansas 
and Cumberland of the blackcaps. Among the black¬ 
berries Early Harvest, Eldorado and Merceran are 
good ones to grow. Of currants the Diploma and 
Perfection are very best known. 
2. In the matter of ornamental hedges for small 
places California privet is the most common, but it is 
not the most satisfactory, in my judgment. It grows 
very rank and needs frequent cutting back to keep 
it within bounds. At Washington it is nearly ever¬ 
green, but is not hardy during cold Winters, such as 
the last one, when many of the privet hedges were 
killed or severely injured. The hemlock and Nor¬ 
way spruces are both hardy and make dense shade, 
HAIL INSURANCE. 
Reference was re¬ 
cently made by one of 
our correspondents to 
hail insurance of farm 
crops. Considerable 
losses in some sections 
cause farmers to think 
quite seriously of mutual 
insurance companies for 
protection against hail 
damage. A prosperous 
mutual company now 25 
years old is the Florists’ 
Hail Association o f 
America. It formation 
was due to the “get-to¬ 
gether” spirit which has 
always existed among 
men in the flower trade, 
and which was crystal¬ 
lized into lines of practi¬ 
cal helpfulness by the 
formation of the Na¬ 
tional Society of Ameri¬ 
can Florists. During its 
25 years of existence the 
Hail Association has 
performed a service far 
in excess of actual 
money invested, for as far as liquid capital is con¬ 
cerned many a florist is in just the same position as 
an average farmer, and the insurance money that 
replaces his shattered glass means much beside the 
actual outlay. At present the Hail Association has 
1,682 members, with 38,141,656 square feet of glass 
insured. Since its formation 1,832 losses have been 
adjusted, involving a total expenditure of more than 
$262,000. It has a comfortable reserve fund, well in¬ 
vested. During the period from June 1, 1887 to 
August 1, 1912, Kansas leads in number of losses by 
hail, while California and South Carolina stand 
lowest. The losses are so widely distributed, how¬ 
ever, covering 42 States, the District of Columbia 
and Canada, that evidently we cannot call any locality 
exempt, though the risk is greater in some places 
than in others. 
The refrigerator cure for hay fever is reported by the 
newspapers. Hay fever victims in the vicinity of Omaha 
are spending hours in the packing house meat coolers, 
which give them at least temporary relief. 
