THE RURA1( NEW-YORKER 
HQ1 
1918 . 
FINE TOKAY GRAPES IN PENNSYLVANIA. 
About 25 years ago I became interest¬ 
ed in the cultivation of the grapevine, 
from a horticultural and botanical 
standpoint. About this time I grafted 
an Isabella, and it showed such supe¬ 
rior fruit as almost to be mistaken for 
Black Hamburg. This vine was grafted 
on an old Taylor root, and I am now 
doing some grafting of some of the 
more tender varieties, on this superior 
root. 
The vine pictured is, however, graft¬ 
ed on a Rupestris, St. George. It was 
started about 10 years ago and has been 
in perfeA health ever since bearing reg¬ 
ularly most beautiful fruit. The bunch 
in the picture weighed about three 
pounds. The object of grafting is to 
overcome the ravages of the phylloxera, 
and to connect with a root that is al¬ 
ready acclimated, thus imparting char¬ 
acter and strength that it otherwise 
would not have. It was grafted about 
two feet from the ground to prevent it 
from taking root itself, which it would 
be inclined to do if we gave it too good 
a chance. I used here the old style cleft 
graft. 
Every Fall I wash the vine with a so¬ 
lution of sulphate of copper in water, 
about one ounce to 20 of water. Then 
present time some good power sprayers 
are put upon the market at moderate 
prices, and then there are other things 
that enter in. We are coming more 
and more each year to realize the im¬ 
portance of making application at the 
proper time, which in many cases 
means we have a very short time to 
do the work in. That is especially true 
in case of the first application for scab, 
which must be made for best results be¬ 
tween the time the cluster of buds 
breaks apart and the time blossoms 
open. Again, in first application for 
Codling moth, which must be made 
for best effect between time blossoms 
fall and calyx closes, which in turn 
means we must be ready to move al¬ 
most at a moment’s notice. Few people 
can be in that position who must de¬ 
pend upon hired help to pump a hand 
sprayer, and if we could, I still believe 
we can pump more cheaply with the 
gasoline engine. 
This holds as true with the small 
orchardist as the large, and in fact is 
more important in his case; the small 
grower, simply because of the small 
volume of his business, does not seem 
to think it necessary for him to figure 
on a business basis. With the moder¬ 
ate priced power sprayer, the small 
TOKAY GRAPES GROWN IN PENNSYLVANIA. 
before frost comes I bury it in the 
ground about six or eight inches, and 
leave it thus until Spring. I now wash 
it clean and repeat the same wash again. 
After the leaves have formed I spray 
with a solution of carbonate of cop¬ 
per dissolved in ammonia, using about 
one ounce to 10 of water. This is done 
twice before the blossoms open. I do 
not spray when in bloom. After the 
blooming time is over I spray twice with 
the same solution as before. As the 
time of fruit ripening approaches I 
spray with a solution of sulphur dis¬ 
solved in lime water; this effectually pre¬ 
vents the attacks of mildew, one of its 
worst enemies. 
Should any reader wish to try this, 
procure a vine and plant it in the posi¬ 
tion you wish the exotic to stand. After 
it has grown a few years, cut it off 
about 18 inches above the ground, cleft 
graft it as you would anything else, 
passing it through a peach basket so 
the graft is completely covered with 
earth after the basket is filled with 
same. A grape graft must be kept moist 
until the union is completed. After that 
is done remove the basket and your 
work is complete. 
Berks Co., Penn. lee esenhower. 
HAND OR POWER SPRAYERS. ™ 
Naturally the first question that often 
comes up is, which is most practical for 
the fruit grower to use, power or hand 
outfit. I have generally held that both 
had their place, depending upon con¬ 
ditions and amount of orchard one has. 
One of the reasons has been the high 
cost of good power sprayers. At the 
grower can put a boy on to drive and, 
if necessary, do the work himself, that 
might many times not get done at all, 
just because good help could not be had 
at the essential time. Then, too, the 
matter of good pressure enters in for 
consideration. With large trees a good 
pressure is always desirable, if not es¬ 
sential. On small trees it is many times 
essential; this is especially true where 
fruit is set well through the inside of 
trees and the foliage is thick. Also 
where contact remedies are applied 
when trees are in foliage. And I have 
yet to find the man who can hold the 
desired pressure by hand power all day, 
be he ever so willing. 
Now, all this does not, of course, 
mean we should discard the hand 
sprayer entirely, if one does not feel 
able either to buy or rig up a power 
sprayer, or where the work can be done 
by members of the family, and it is the 
best one can do, then I would say by 
all means use the hand sprayer, for it 
is so far superior to no spraying that 
comparison is unnecessary. Good work 
can be done with either power or hand 
sprayer. On the other hand, neither is 
an assurance good work will be done. 
It all narrows down to the man behind 
the job. As to the capacity of either 
in actual work, there are so many things 
that enter in that an opinion would 
hardly be worth the paper it was writ¬ 
ten on. One man will accomplish more 
with a machine of a certain capacity 
than another will with double the ca¬ 
pacity—again the man. However, the 
advantage of the power sprayer is so 
great that it should simply be looked at 
from the viewpoint of whether or not 
we can raise the money to buy one. 
There is no question in my mind as to 
whether it is a paying proposition. 
New York. wm. hotaling. 
TREES TO BE PROUD OF 
W E are proud of them now. You will be when they come into 
bearing and prove themselves. We have a full line of stock; 
but the following special features are offered this year: 
THEY ARE GROWN R TAT | AA rK AY 
AT GENEVA, NEW YORK oy ▼¥ • U. 1Y1CIY/V I 
McKAY’S DWARF APPLE TREES 
The bonniest little trees you ever saw. They 
are grown on the imported French Doucin dwarf 
'stock, so make a tree large enough to amount to 
something, but small enough so you can plant ten 
trees on the same space that one great big apple 
tree should have without crowding. 
I don’t advise them for commercial planting 
except in special cases, but they are exactly the 
thing for you if you want a succession of the 
very choicest varieties for home use from August 
till the following May, and haven’t room for a lot 
of big trees. They are right down low where you 
can do everything they require standing right on 
the ground; they are just the thing for the children 
to climb and fall out of—they haven’t so far to 
drop ! 
SEND FOR THE SWEEPSTAKES 
COLLECTION OF DWARF APPLES—twenty 
trees, all different kinds, fully described in our 
new catalogue. 
By the Way, SPEAKING OF OUR 1913 CATALOGUE, HERE IT IS 
It’s fruit, about all the way 
through; it is written by a fruit 
man, engraved by horticultural 
engravers, printed by a horticul¬ 
tural printer, advertised in the 
best horticultural paper on earth, 
and every fruit man, including 
YOU, needs it. This barrel of 
McIntosh is the genuine thing— 
one of our own fancy barrels, spill¬ 
ed right out on the floor and photo¬ 
graphed. The grapes are from 
photographs of specimen bunches 
selected from some exhibited at 
the State Fair; the whole thing is 
tri:j to nature. The cover is a 
fine, four color job of engraving; 
the book is profusely illustrated 
with views of our nurseries, and 
engravings of both trees and fruits. 
A REQUEST BY POSTAL WILL BRING IT 
AND WHAT ABOUT “THE BIG RED APPLE”? 
“ We’ve got em ” to perfection in the “ Scarlet Beauty,” which gives name to 
our "Big Red Apple” Collection of fourteen choice kinds of standard apple 
trees, selected, like the Dwarf Collection, with special reference to a choice, family 
orchard. This and the wonderful new apple, the “Stearns,” are both in this 
collection, and we are the only nurserymen growing either of these varieties. 
When I went to Iowa as a 
boy in 1860; it was all pretty 
new: the only fruit obtain¬ 
able then were the wild 
plums and a wild crab apple 
that for real, energetic 
“pucker,” could put a green 
persimmon to blush. But the 
plums were good—at least 
we boys thought so, and I 
never got over this boyish 
partiality for this fruit. Fol¬ 
lowing the boy instinct, two 
or three years ago I went on 
a “tasting’’expedition across 
the road, over into the large 
plum orchard of the Experi¬ 
ment Station where a variety 
test of several hundred kinds 
is going on. There I ran 
across two gems — the 
“ Pearl ” and “ Palantine.” 
Professor Hedrick in describ¬ 
ing these two varieties in his 
“Plums of New York” is so 
enthusiastic that he almost 
. rivals us nurserymen in our 
vivid praise of our wares. So we have printed his historical sketch and personal opinion 
of these two varieties, as we now offer one year trees of both, from buds obtained from 
the Experiment Station orchard. If you write for one of our 
“ Pearl ” Collection* of plums you will receive the six varieties 
here shown, including; both Pearl and Palatine. 
BEURRE BOSC PEAR TREES 
This variety which is usually a difficult one for the nursery¬ 
man to grow, we are growing' to perfection. They are 
so sought for that for the last three years we have sold out 
all our trees at one year of age, and we now have only one 
year trees. But these are fine and are grown from stock 
from our own bearing trees and we know they are true. 
Don’t plant top grafted trees of this variety when you can get 
g'ood strong yearlings. 
FOUR NEW KINDS OF CHERRIES 
So far as we know, grown only by us. The “ Abbesse " 
an elegant, almost black table cherry; the “Marguerite” 
an enormous, dark red, firm flesh cherry, almost sweet; 
the “ Royal Duke ” as good or better than the old May 
Duke, and “ McKay’s Late Montmorency,” a sport of 
my own; a true Montmorency, ripening just as the 
Montmorency Ordainaire is gone. These four new varieties 
every cherry lover should have. 
Besides the above special offers if planting peaches, you want our trees; they 
are grown from stock taken from tested, bearing trees, and this stock is renewed 
every four or five years; this means that they will be true to name. 
We offer the most attractive Raspberry, Blackberry and Grape varieties, kinds 
that every good garden should have. 
In ornamentals we have all the hardy shrubs and shade trees, rose bushes and 
hardy climbers —all our own growing. 
There is one thing we have not got and do not intend to have— A DISSATISFIED 
CUSTOMER. Try us with your spring order—you will get a square deal. 
ONE YEAR TREES FOR COMMERCIAL ORCHARDS A SPECIALTY 
CATALOGUE* TO W. L. McKAY 
Proprietor of The Van Dusen Nurseries, box s, geneva, new york 
