-118 
date that there is any inherent difference in the pro¬ 
ductiveness of individual trees in ji variety. That is to 
say, we have always assumed that a Baldwin tree will 
always produce Baldwins. In all the horticultural con¬ 
ventions the idea that there are prolific and non-prolific 
trees of the same variety has never been suggested until 
very recent times. So far as I have observed and ex¬ 
perimented, I am of the opinion that in citrus fruits, in 
all of our groves there is not more than 10 per cent, of 
the highest type of productive trees, real mother trees, 
worthy of propagation, and that there are from 10 to 25 
per cent, that are virtually drones, that pay no ground 
rent. While I cannot personally state that this is true 
with all other fruits I am of the opinion that careful 
investigation will demonstrate that the same law or rule 
will prevail. Careful selection after years of demonstra¬ 
tion is what is now required to eliminate the worthless 
types and propagate the best. 
Mr. Chase did not observe these differences so much 
until he became a fruit grower, and had the oppor¬ 
tunity of observing the behavior of mature fruiting 
trees. The work now being done in California will 
be along the lines of this form of reasoning, that is 
a study of bud variation in Citrus fruits, with an 
effort to show whether the variation observed in the 
orchard may be permanently transmitted through the 
buds. Three seasons’ work has now been covered, 
and some remarkable data have been obtained. Th 
object of the investigation is to determine if possible, 
first the behavior of individual Citrus trees under 
comparatively the same conditions for several suc¬ 
cessive seasons. Second, the character and frequency 
of bud variations in Citrus fruits, and third, practical 
methods for improving the yield and quality by bud 
selection. As will be seen, this covers practically the 
whole story, and may be said to be based upon the 
system which has done so much to improve our herds 
of dairy cattle, for in the case of the cattle, the first 
step was to determine accurately the yield of each 
cow, then to study and observe the .characteristic 
shape, temperament and habit of the superior cows; 
then to learn under what conditions these superior 
qualities may be transmitted through breeding. We 
shall take up Mr. Shamel’s address, and give a full 
analysis of the interesting data he has already ob¬ 
tained, for here starts a new campaign, not against 
the robber cow, but against the drone tree. 
A WONDERFUL CHICKEN SCHEME. 
“Back to the land!” cries the reformer, the friend 
of humanity; “leave the city, with its squalor and 
misery, its filthy tenement houses, its heartless compe¬ 
tition and its sweatshops. Go to the country, buy a 
few acres of land, raise your own crops, have your 
own vegetables and chickens and be independent.” 
The reformer undoubtedly means well. He sees 
the army of unemployed in the city, and considers 
the situation desperate; he sees the vastness of the 
country, and thinks it should be easy for the un¬ 
employed to earn their living on the land. But, un¬ 
fortunately, the well-meaning man is not always the 
wise one, and the remedy proposed by certain indi¬ 
viduals is often as bad as the disease. Whether or 
not the back-to-the-land movement has produced any 
good results, I do not know; but I am sure that it 
has done considerable harm. It is easy enough to 
say “Go back to the land!” It is much harder to 
prove that the land will be the city man’s salvation. 
Take the poultry industry: For the past few years 
there has been an impression among a vast number 
of people that a poultry farm is one of the most 
profitable institutions in the United States. The fact 
that it takes knowledge, experience and more than 
ordinary common sense to run a poultry plant does 
not concern them. Thousands of them went into the 
poultry business and, as it might have been expected, 
the majority of them fail, but incidentally, for the 
time being, they are instrumental in reducing the 
profits of all poultry raisers. The truth is, it is easier 
for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than 
for the average man to succeed in raising chickens; 
but the city man will feel offended if you tell him 
that his efforts will be a waste of time and money. 
The other day a young man from New York City, 
who happened to be nearby, came to see my poultry 
plant. He informed me that he had a piece of land 
near Long Branch, N. J., and was ready to raise 
chickens on a large scale. He wanted to have a 
chicken house large enough to hold 2,000 fowls. In 
order to get so many pullets it would be necessary 
to hatch about 5,000 chicks. He intended to build two 
henhouses, 18x100 feet each, facing each other, with 
an alley between the two buildings. I told him that 
his plan was wrong, and that he should build one 
continuous house 18x200 feet. But he said that it was 
impossible for him to have such a long chicken house 
for the reason that his land was only a lot 50x150 
feet. Think of it! He expected to raise 5,000 chicks 
and have a henhouse for 2,000 hens on that small 
piece of land! To simplify his work (and perhaps to 
save space) he was willing to do away with incu- 
THK RURAL NEW-YORKER 
bators; he knew a place where he’ could buy baby 
chicks at 15 cents each, and would get as many as 
he needed. And what was the object of his visit? 
Was it to find out whether it was possible to raise 
so many chickens on so small a piece of land? Noth¬ 
ing of the sort! He had no doubts on this subject, 
but having been told that it would cost him about 
$3,000 to build the henhouses, he wanted to know 
whether that estimate was correct. 
You may think that this man was an idiot, but such 
was not the case. He seemed to possess the intelli- 
NEST OF WALNUT BUD MOTH. Fio. 183. 
("See page 422J 
gence of the average man, but he was simply a victim 
on the altar of ignorance. And his case is by no 
means an isolated one. There are many back-to-the- 
landers who have not the slightest idea of what farm¬ 
ing means, but who are convinced that it is a very 
simple thing. 
A few years ago a young man, an emigrant from 
Russia, came to work on my farm. On the first day 
WALNUT WEEVIL GRUBS. Fig. 134. 
• (See page 422.) 
lie was very enthusiastic. He had no use for the 
city; he wanted to get practical knowledge of agri¬ 
culture on a farm and scientific knowledge at an 
agricultural school and then buy a farm for himself. 
But it 'was evident that his idea of the pleasures of 
farm life was derived from Russian poems. As soon 
as he was given some work to do his enthusiasm 
cooled off very rapidly. On the third day he asked 
me how long I lived on the farm. “Two years,” was 
March 22, 
my reply. “What!” he exclaimed, “two years, and 
still you have to work as hard as you do!” It did not 
take him long to decide that so long as it was im¬ 
possible to become rich on a farm in two years, 
farming was not the proper occupation for him. He 
stayed one w r eek and returned to New York. At any 
rate, he was wiser than those who rush to the land 
without making any investigation as to what they may 
do there. 
Shall we not, for a while at least, stop the back- 
to-the-land movement and start in its place a back-to- 
common-sense movement? c. P. n.. 
Sullivan Co., N. Y. 
DAMAGE FROM RAILROAD FIRES. 
On page 162 E. J. Liekert writes about fires from 
railroads. Let me put here the experience-of a for¬ 
eigner who settled in New York State. The very 
first month one of his meadows was burned. He 
wrote to the management of the railroad, but natu¬ 
rally did get no satisfaction, while, on the other hand, 
the engines kept busy setting fire to his land at regu¬ 
lar intervals. Then this foreigner went to see a law¬ 
yer, who explained to him just the provisions of the 
law regarding such fires, which mainly consists in find¬ 
ing coals of a given size on the burnt land, which 
fact would be a proof that the engine had no spark 
catcher, which is required by law. 
Now this foreigner kept his eyes open, and every 
time his meadows were set on fire he would go im¬ 
mediately and look for coals. These were not neces¬ 
sarily present every time, but were present in the 
majority of the cases. He saved them in separate 
envelopes with dates, etc., marked, and later took them 
to his lawyer, who in turn laid them before the rail¬ 
road officials. They saw that evidence was over¬ 
whelming and that the lawyer was ready to sue them, 
so they settled for damages. This happened in 1911- 
1912. In the Fall of 1912 before the fire season began, 
this same railroad instructed their men on that par¬ 
ticular section of the track to burn all their grass on 
both sides of the tracks so that fire would not start 
on that side of the fence, and it seems that the engi¬ 
neers are instructed to be more careful, for on all that 
section hardly any fires have occurred this season as 
yet. Some of the neighbors of this man, when they 
found out how he had protected himself, called him 
a smart man, but when the same thing happened to 
themselves they did not look to see if any coals were 
present and let the matter drop. It is, in my opinion, 
just this neglect that encourages the railroads to be 
so grossly negligent as to burn haystacks, orchards, 
buildings, etc., and go unpunished. Once you let them 
know you are awake they will be more careful and 
the whole trouble will end. Don’t kick only, but get 
the facts and go after them. Let E. J. Liekert do the 
same. _ d. e. s. 
DEER IN NEW YORK STATE. 
On page 58 we printed a statement from Samuel 
Hope, of Long Island, in regard to the damage done 
by deer. There seems to be no doubt that in the 
locality where Mr. Hope lives there is a large herd of 
deer which cause considerable damage in destroying 
fruit trees and various crops. There is no open sea¬ 
son for Suffolk County, and so far as we can learn 
there are only two or three points on the Island 
where these deer become a nuisance. There is no 
question, however, about the damage done to Mr. 
Hope. We learned for him that the proper way to 
proceed in a case of this kind is to submit a bill for 
damages to the State Board of Claims at Albany. 
This is the old Court of Claims, with authority to 
award damages for losses, in cases where the State 
is responsible. Mr. Hope made out a bill of $280, 
covering several years of damage, and submitted this 
bill properly made out with copies as required by law. 
He is now informed by the Board of Claims that his 
case will be put on file and brought up for trial at 
some future date. In other words, Mr. Hope will be 
obliged to hire a lawyer at considerable cost to go 
before this Board the same as a court, prove his claims, 
and have it argued. There are 78 cases already on 
the calendar, some of them dating back to 1907. Evi¬ 
dently it would be a number of years before Mr. 
Hope’s case would ever reach this court, and his law¬ 
yers and other legal fees would most likely eat up 
more than he could hope to get in the way of dam¬ 
ages. What opportunity has a poor farmer under 
such a condition to obtain justice when his crops are 
destroyed in this way? One can hardly blame Mr. 
Hope for being discouraged at this outlook, for he 
will be obliged to sit powerless during the next few 
years and see his crops eaten up by these worthless 
deer. On can hardly blame him for saying that rather 
than submit to this injustice he will defend his prop¬ 
erty by shooting the deer and take the consequences 
as an example of what the State will do in such a 
case. Of course we recognize the fact that New York 
State cannot pay out money without positive proof 
that it is due—but under the present system what 
chance has a poor man to collect such damages? 
