1910. 
1HE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
&1© 
KILLING PEACH TREES WITH PAINT. 
On April 20, 1907, I planted 100 peach trees and they 
grew finely. Last Summer I picked 18 baskets of fruit 
from them. Last Fall, after digging around each tree 
and freeing them from borers, I got a notion to paint 
them with white lead, and having some left from a 
shed that I painted, which contained some drier, I used 
this on the trees, and painted every one. This Spring 
they looked fine. After they had bloomed and the 
fruit was about set I noticed that there was something 
wrong with the trees. They started to die, and I soon 
learned that it was the paint or rather the drier in the 
paint that killed them. By this time about three- 
fourths of the trees are dead, and the rest are ruined 
with the exception of a few that might come all right. 
I give this for what it is worth; it might be of some 
benefit to others as a warning not to paint peach trees, 
especially not with paint containing drier. c. b. s. 
Lancaster, Pa. 
R. N.-Y.—We have never favored painting peach 
trees, although some good reports have been made to 
us. In any event nothing except pure lead and oil 
should ever be used. 
WHY CLOVER “RUNS OUT.” 
Red clover is put down in the botanies as a per¬ 
ennial, and we know that in many instances plants 
survive several seasons. We also know that in the 
average meadow that has a good stand of clover the 
first season after seeding, the clover will practically 
disappear before the following season. The reason it 
disappears is not inherent in the clover itself, but be¬ 
cause of certain pests that attack the clover, principal 
among which is the clover root-borer, Hylastinus ob- 
scurus. This pest made its appearance in this country, 
coming from Europe, 23 or 30 years ago, and is now 
quite widely scattered. For a number of years it has 
been generally disseminated throughout New York 
State. Eggs are laid by small beetles on the roots of 
CORN AFTER A LIME SHED. Fig. 353 
the clover plants, chiefly during May and June. The 
young larvae are soon hatched and begin feeding upon 
the roots, making bores longitudinally through them. 
This work is not gotten in early enough in the life 
of the clover plant to affect the first crop, and very 
frequently an excellent crop of rowen is secured. But 
before the following season the borers have so weak¬ 
ened the plants as to cause their destruction. The 
meadow if left is practically Timothy and other grasses 
the second year, very little clover remaining. It is 
the ravages of this pest and not because clover is 
not a perennial plant, or because of late cutting, or 
allowing the clover to seed, that is the primary cause 
of its failing the second year. Because of this state 
of affairs, those farmers who prefer to produce clover 
rather than Timothy hay usually mow their meadows 
but one year, breaking them up and putting them 
through the rotation after getting one crop of clover. 
Cornell University. j. l. stonb:. 
THE GREAT COLORADO RUBBER PLANT. 
[This time it is shares of stock in a company formed to 
manufacture rubber from a famous plant growing in Col¬ 
orado. Rubber is scarce and the price is soaring. Here 
is a wild plant, known to few. All you have to do is tc 
buy stock and put up your money and the promoters will 
do the rest. That is about the way they talk, and it looks 
as if people were actually thinking about giving up their 
money. Stop them if you can. One or tne highest authori¬ 
ties iu Colorado sends us this statement about the plant. 
“It is about as valuable as Burbank's spineless cactus !”] 
“I did not know that the fame of the Colorado 
rubber plant had gotten as far east as New York 
City. We occasionally hear of the proposition here. 
In fact the wonders and possibilities of rubber from 
this plant bob up about once a year. We consider 
it about as valuable as Burbank’s spineless cactus. 
The facts of the case are about as follows: There is 
a low yellowish green perennial plant that grows in 
various places on the plains and in the mountains of 
Colorado that contains juice that is claimed can be 
made into rubber. Rydberg (Flora of Colorado) gives 
this as Hymenoxys. There appears to be six different 
species of this genus. So far as I have seen it in the 
State I would say that it might be possible if one 
were to collect by hand, to get maybe two or three 
hundred pounds of the plant per acre in localities 
where the plants are numerous. It is very doubtful 
MAMIE ROSS AND ELBERTA CROSS. CLING. Fig.354. 
about its ever having any real value other than as an 
interesting curiosity. It appears to be a desert plant, 
and as far as I know has never been grown under 
cultivation. What might be done with it in that 
case I am not prepared to say, though I believe I 
would rather take my chances on potatoes or apples 
as a money-making proposition in Colorado. So far 
as the new process of manufacture is concerned I have 
not heard anything about it. It looks to me that 
even if they found a process by which the rubber 
could be readily extracted there would not be enough 
of the plant to make it pay to work without nearly 
the total weight of the plant were rubber, and of 
course you know that is not possible. We have a 
great deal of faith in Colorado propositions, but these 
are the ones that come along with the judicious use 
of irrigation water, considerable elbow grease, and 
the application of scientific principles of farming. We 
seldom take the trouble to look up these wild-cat 
schemes other than to do what we can to prevent 
people from getting bitten.” 
VALUE OF APPLE TREES. 
What would you say is a fair price for the State to pay 
for thrifty four-year-old Wealthy and McIntosh trees 
ruined by deer? The commissioner seems disposed to 
allow me a fair amount, but I am in doubt what to say 
the loss per tree is. c. it. c. 
Grafton, Yt. 
The value of four-year-old apples, Wealthy and 
McIntosh, would depend very largely upon the man 
who is growing them. In other words, the amount 
of tillage, feeding and care they had had, and the 
vigor or growth they had made. Under the best of 
conditions and on good land, apple trees will grow 
about a dollar a year in value. We had 500 one-year- 
old apple orchard practically destroyed by deer in 
this State last year, and were paid 75 cents a tree 
for the whole bunch. I would rather have the trees 
let alone than the money. Something has got to be 
MAMIE ROSS AND ELBERTA CROSS. FREESTONE. 
Fig. 355. 
done mighty soon in New England to clear out the 
deer entirely, or a good many orchardists will have 
to go out of business. j. h. hale. 
Connecticut. 
I do not happen to know of cases of trees ruined 
by deer, but have of trees ruined by railroad fires. 
With trees injured by the former they may be wholly 
ruined or only headed back, while if fire injures the 
trunks it is probable that they will not recover. 
My estimate of trees that have made a good growth 
is, that they would be worth $5 each at four years 
old, while as they are often treated they may not 
be worth as much at the end of five years as they 
were when first planted. Where deer have become 
abundant I would advise painting the trunks with 
fresh lime wash with one pound arsenate of lead 
to an eight-quart pailful, and spraying or painting 
the leaves. I think the animals will not eat enough 
to harm them, but will not trouble them a second 
time. This will also serve as a Winter protection. 
Massachusetts. s. t. maynard. 
Don’t try to raise an apple orchard in any part 
of Vermont where the deer are at all plentiful, for 
they will surely trim it to its death. In regard to the 
damage to four-year-old apple trees destroyed by deer 
pruning, I would set the damage, if one were engaged 
in the business of raising trees for deer and collect¬ 
ing damages from the State, at the cost of the trees, 
setting, etc., the same as one figures the cost of any 
annual crop. But one does not raise an orchard for 
any such purpose, neither does one for just the dol¬ 
lars and cents in it; very few of us build just for 
a money proposition, we take a pride in our houses, 
our successful business, or orchards, or farms, and 
when we wake up some fine morning and find our 
work in ruins, is there a money salve? For a thrifty 
McIntosh or Wealthy tree four years old in a good 
- SWEET CLOVER IN PENNSYLVANIA. Fig. 356. 
situation I should want $1-0 a tree, and I would rather 
have the orchard than the money. 
Vermont. frank Howard. 
If these trees are on good orchard land and have 
been well cared for they are worth far more than if 
on poor land, and have received little or no care. 
If these trees have been set in the orchard four years 
they should be valped as eight-year-old trees, for at 
the best it will take four years more to bring new 
trees up to where these now are. In this State the 
price paid for damage to trees by deer has usually 
been not over $1 each, and often less. The age of 
tree or real damage has seemed to cut a small figure 
with those appraising the damage. I should place 
the damage, if the trees were destroyed, from $1 to 
$5 each, according to the conditions and the owner. 
If the orchard is on good orchard land, and has been 
properly trimmed, and the owner is a man who I 
had reason to believe would take proper care of the 
orchard in the future, I would consider five dollars 
each a‘ low price, while on the other hand I know of 
orchards where it would have been a real blessing to 
the owner if the deer or something else had destroyed 
them before planted. Vermont has paid out large 
sums of money for damages to crops by deer, yet it 
has not paid 10 per cent of the actual damages. 
Farm crops of all kinds, as well as orchard and forest 
trees, are being destroyed, that the city sportsmen 
may have the fun of slaughtering the deer during the 
open season. It is up to the farmers of New Eng¬ 
land to say how long they will stand for this" non¬ 
sense. Ask your candidate for legislative honors to 
make a public statement as to just how he stands 
on this deer question. a. a. halladay. 
Vermont. 
Tiie Virginia Horticultural Society will send expert 
apple packers through the State to give public demonstra¬ 
tions of apple packing. 
