1002 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
November 26, 
FARMERS’ CLUB 
[Every query must be accompanied by the name 
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fore asking a question, please see whether it is not 
answered in our advertising columns. Ask only 
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raparate piece of paper.] 
PEDIGREED POTATOES IN MILD CLI¬ 
MATES. 
On page 684 you published a selection 
and resume of an article written by me 
in regard to pedigreeing potato seed, in 
which I held that an ordinary potato 
variety is made up of many strains, some 
of which yield well and are satisfactory 
regarding the number and size per hill. 
Other strains yield poorly, and should 
be discarded by the potato grower. One 
of your subscribers, who has a potato 
farm in Monmouth County, N. J., wishes 
to know how the above idea would fit 
into his practice, as he obtains his potato 
seed from northern New York or Maine. 
Would the home-grown, pedigreed po¬ 
tatoes yield more than the ordinarily 
selected northern seed? 
Briefly speaking, the answer to the 
above question would be a negative one. 
The selections of the best strains at 
home would not secure the yields which 
the ordinary run of northern grown seed 
would produce. I am speaking now for 
those growers that have a long warm 
Summer. But the problem is not so 
simple as the above answer might lead 
one to think. Professor Close and Mr. 
White of the Maryland Experiment Sta¬ 
tion, have apparently done some good 
work alone this line. They find that 
certain tubers in the Spring, from the 
home-grown, Summer-harvested seed, 
had weak sprouts. The cause of these 
weak sprouts was not followed up, but 
they made plantings of the weak sprout¬ 
ed tubers and of the strong sprouted 
tubers, of the same lot. They found that 
the crop from the strong sprouted tubers 
had an increased yield of over 300 per 
cent, as an average of several trials. 
The Maine, or northern grown, seed al¬ 
ways had strong sprouts. It was further 
noticed that the northern grown seed 
(the seed they used having come from 
Aroostook County), had the strongest 
sprouts at the seed end, or apex of the 
tuber. In contrast to this several of 
the Maryland grown varieties showed the 
strongest sprouts at the stem end, or 
at the base of the tuber. 
A field test was made of the Maine 
grown and home-grown Summer-har¬ 
vested seed. The tubers were cut 
lengthwise, and then cut so that two 
eyes were left to the piece. They were 
so planted that comparison could be 
made between the seed end and stem 
end of the Maine grown, and seed end 
and stem end of the home-grown seed. 
For the Maine-grown potatoes it was 
found that the seed end of the seed out- 
yielded the stem end by 23 bushels per 
acre. For the home-grown seed it was 
found that the stem end outyielded the 
seed end seed by 29 bushels per acre. 
It was further seen that the stem end 
seed of the home-grown tubers out- 
yielded the seed end seed of the Maine- 
grown tubers by 13 bushels per acre, as 
an average of two varieties. Now in 
the growth of a potato, the basal por¬ 
tion of the tuber is formed first, and the 
apex of the potato is formed later in 
the season. ' The stem end is formed 
first, followed later by the formation of 
the seed end. In the late cool season of 
northern Maine, the stem end of the 
potato is formed during the warmest 
portion of the season, while the seed 
end is formed during the cool days of 
Autumn. In Maryland, and in States 
having similar conditions, the first crop 
of potatoes is planted early, and the basal 
portion of the tuber is formed during 
the cool days of Spring, while the stem 
end is formed during the warmer days 
of early Summer. It seems to be a fact 
that cool weather is favorable to the 
production of a strong, vigorous eye 
or bud in the potato, and that hot 
weather produces the growth of a weak 
bud. Whatever the physiology of this 
may be, the fact itself is a thing of inter¬ 
est to the farmer. With this knowledge, 
a careful farmer of the Middle States, 
with excellent storage facilities, may be 
able to select his seed so that the home¬ 
grown seed will yield as much as the 
northern grown seed. Good storage 
alone will not solve the problem. The 
buds in the potatoes have an innate 
weakness or strength that is fundamen¬ 
tal. Reasonable care will keep the 
strong eye in that condition, and the 
weak eye will not be changed, even if 
the tuber be kept in cold storage. From 
the foregoing facts we may be able to 
give a positive answer to the question 
asked at the beginning of the article. If 
one pedigrees one’s potato seed, then 
care must be taken to plant such buds 
that have formed in cool weather. Those 
that do not have the care and skill to do 
this would better continue to obtain po¬ 
tato seed from cool regions. 
Dickinson, N. D. L. r. waldron. 
NATIONAL NUT GROWERS’ MEETING. 
PART I. 
While the active membership of the Na¬ 
tional Nut Growers’ Association is com¬ 
posed most largely of persons interested in 
pecans, the body does not confine its work 
to this variety, but endeavors to promote 
the growing of all varieties of nuts, in all 
parts of America. At the ninth annual 
meeting just held at Monticello, Fla., a 
great pecan growing center, the reports 
from northern sections formed an important 
part of the programme. Prof. H. A. Gos¬ 
sard; entomologist of the Ohio Experiment 
Station, discussed nut growing in his State, 
referring to the large local demand for 
various nuts and the opportunities for their 
culture within the State. The pecan, a na¬ 
tive of the Wabash bottoms of Indiana, 
grows well in Ohio, and success with its 
culture would seem to depend mainly upon 
the introduction of varieties suited to that 
climate. Seedling trees in Itoss, Fairfield, 
Warren and other counties have proved en¬ 
tirely hardy and yielded crops with regu¬ 
larity. Among several specimens mentioned 
is one at Lebanon from 12 to 14 feet in 
circumference, 80 feet high, with spread 
of branch proportionate. It is a beautiful, 
symmetrical tree bearing a peculiar shaped 
thin-shelled nut. Professor Gossard, from 
his investigations, believes that the pecan 
can be grown in his State, but that time 
and experiments will have to determine the 
best methods. Such varieties as the In¬ 
diana, Mantura, Appomattox and Hodge are 
suggested for this State. These propagated 
on hardy stocks from northern seed promise 
well. 
Prof. Close, horticulturist of the Mary¬ 
land Experiment Station, has given much 
time to the development of nut growing in 
his State. A large number of trees have 
been distributed in different sections. More 
attention is given to the pecan than any 
other single nut, because of the excellence 
of the nut itself and its value as a crop 
either for home use or the market. The 
varieties suggested by Prof. Gossard as 
promising most for present plantings, are 
being given trial in Maryland. It is only 
within the past season that these varieties 
have become available for planting, and 
even now the supply is small. The Indiana 
originated in the southern part of the State 
of Indiana and the original tree in Knox 
County bears annual crops of good-sized 
thin-shelled nuts. The Mantura and Ap¬ 
pomattox, originated in Virginia, are hardy 
types, and the nuts are medium to large 
in size, with very thin shells. They have 
excellent cracking qualities. Of the south¬ 
ern varieties that promise well when 
planted far north are the Stuart and 
Moneymaker. Maryland is giving attention 
to the development of English walnuts, 
chestnuts, hiekorynuts and filberts. Of the 
types of English walnuts it would seem 
that the Rush will likely give best results 
for planting from the varieties available 
for the East at this time. 
Prof. W. N. Hutt of Raleigh, N. C., the 
State horticulturist, has been actively at 
work in his State, and has fruited some of 
the southern varieties near the Virginia 
border. The nuts are as large and as well 
filled as those grown farther south. He 
is planting Mantura, Appomattox, Stuart 
and Van Deman principally, and all trees 
thus far transplanted are doing well. There 
has never been any evidence of winter-kill¬ 
ing, a trouble so much feared by persons 
planting trees in northern sections. Winter 
killing seems to be almost entirely the re¬ 
sult of a sudden and severe cold following 
warm weather either in Winter or early 
Spring. During the warm season the sap 
becomes active. The freezing weather fol¬ 
lowing this causes the killing. The trouble 
is mainly among young trees, and especially 
those not of hardy types. It is largely ob¬ 
viated by protecting the trees with boards 
or bushes from the sun on the south and 
west sides during Winter and early Spring 
for the first two or three years, but stocks 
grown from northern nuts do not seem to 
require any protection. During the past 
season a grower of nut trees in Connecticut 
lost practically all of a block of trees from 
southern nuts, while trees from northern 
nuts were uninjured. 
One of the most important matters that 
came before the convention this year was 
that of varietal adaptation. The report 
was made by Prof. C. A. Reed, pecan spe¬ 
cialist of the United States Department of 
Agriculture. Prof. Reed has visited prac¬ 
tically all the original trees of the leading 
varieties of pecans and has observed the 
behavior of trees propagated from them 
and grown in various sections. Their sus¬ 
ceptibility or resistance to scab was speci¬ 
ally noted. This disease affects mainly the 
trees brought from a dry climate into a 
humid climate. Thus Texas varieties can¬ 
not be successfully grown in the Southern 
States east of the Mississippi, as a rule. 
This disease is caused by a fungus (Fusi- 
cladium effusum) which forms small brown¬ 
ish or slightly olive green spots on the 
twigs and leaves and then on the fruits, 
sometimes covering the surface of the fruits 
and causing them to dry up. The Georgia 
Giant, Dolmas, San Saba and Monacli are 
subject to the trouble, while Stuart, Schley, 
Mantura, Moneymaker, Frotseber and Ap¬ 
pomattox are not troubled with the disease. 
w. N. HOPE It. 
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SKUNKS and All 
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Montooniery, N. Y. 
TRADE-MARK, 
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PEACH TREES 
FALL 1910 SPRING 1911 
We are prepared to quoto prices and outer 
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HIGHTSTOWN, NEW JERSEY 
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Peach and Apple Trees 
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