328 
bium layer on the surface of the wood after the 
patch is removed. 
TOP-WORKING LARGE TREES.—Trees up to IS 
inches in diameter may he top-worked by either 
method of grafting. A preliminary cutting hack, 
before growth starts, should he made on the limbs 
to 1 ><» grafted, a few inches above where the grafting 
is to he done, leaving a few branches on the tree to 
sustain growth. At the time for grafting the limbs 
are cut back again to the desired point. This should 
be just where a small side limb is given off, which 
should be left to grow for a time. Otherwise the 
stub is apt to die back to the next side branch. If 
the grafting fails the new shoots that come out 
around the cut-off limbs may be budded in August. 
SCIONS.'—Scions of the Persian walnut would 
better be cut in November or December, as they 
are liable to Winter injury. They can be kept in 
cold storage or packed in boxes with sand or saw¬ 
dust and kept in a cold cellar. Scions of our native 
nuts may be cut in February or March and kept in 
the same way. Vigorous, solid wood should be used 
for scions. The one-year-old wood of the Persian 
walnut is apt to be pithy and light and very diflicult 
to succeed with. The terminal one-year growth of 
the shagbark and pecan is firmer and succeeds very 
well by tlie bark grafting method. The best buds 
for budding are found near the base of a vigorous 
cue-year growth, such as are shown in the illus- 
t ration. 
STOCKS.—The pecan and the shagbark can be 
worked on any variety of hickory. The black wal¬ 
nut makes the best stock for the Persian walnut 
but the butternut and the Japanese walnuts can be 
used. 
GRAFTING WAX.—A good wax is made with 
four pounds of resin, one pound of beeswax, one 
half pint linseed oil and one tablespoonful of lamp¬ 
black. Apply with a small brush when melted but 
not too hot. 
WAXED CLOTH.—Pieces of the best Wamsutta 
blenched muslin are dipped in melted beeswax and 
torn into strips about 14 inches long and three- six¬ 
teenths to one-quarter inch wide. 
Connecticut. w. c. deming. 
A PEST OF CHESTNUT WEEVILS. 
How to Fight Them. 
M Y father-in-law, L. L. Springer, about IS years 
ago. grafted Paragon chestnut scions on chest¬ 
nut sprouts in a clearing of about 100 acres, 
and now has a chestnut grove of over 8,000 18-year- 
old chestnut trees that annually bear immense crops, 
l ut the nuts are practically useless, commercially, 
on account of the worms they contain. The weevil 
has been fought in every way known to us. A num¬ 
ber of chickens were placed in the grove, and their 
teed scattered under the trees during the entire 
Summer with the idea they would eat the weevils 
when they came out of the ground in July, but the 
result was not a big enough improvement over form¬ 
er years to justify the continuance of this method. 
For several years four sets of men and boys, four to 
a set, were put to work picking the weevils off the 
trees. They had large pieces of canvas they 
Fairbanks. 
Hybrids. Fig. 105. 
stretched under the trees, then shook as many of 
the weevils as possible from the trees and gathered 
them up and placed them in buckets containing coal 
oil. The oil killed them as soon as they came in 
contact with it. The men (as soon as all the wee¬ 
vils were disposed of that had been shaken from 
the tree) went over the trees carefully and picked 
off all weevils that still clung to the trees. This 
was kept up during August and September, and of 
course the percentage of good nuts was much larger 
than in former years, but the expense was too great. 
Three years ago the burrs were all cut from the 
trees early in the season with the idea of starving 
the weevils out. but on the following year they 
were on the job the same as usual, although perhaps 
THE KUEAE NEW-YORKER 
not quite so numerous. Last year we allowed the 
weevil undisputed sway, and they got between 3.000 
and 4.000 bushels of chestnuts and we did not get 
a quart. Now this is considered the most successful 
chestnut grove in the State. I know this from the 
fact that inquiries in regard to chestnut culture sent 
to the Agricultural Department of the State are re- 
Posey. 
Butterick. 
Indiana. Major. 
Group Of Pecans. Fig. 10G. 
ferred to Mr. Springer, who they quote as the most 
successful grower of cultivated Paragon chestnuts 
in the State, while as a fact the enterprise is a rank 
failure as far as making it pay is concerned. 
In conversation last Fall with a professor in the 
Maryland Agricultural College he suggested that a 
Steinmann, 
Kirtland. 
Cedar Rapids No. 2. 
Hunkio. 
Various Smacbarks. Fig. 107. 
spray of some kind with a loud smell attached to 
it would be beneficial, as the weevil always side¬ 
stepped a bad smell. lie thought whale-oil soap 
might be used with good effect. Kerosene would 
also kill the weevil, but it would injure the tree. 
We have fought the weevil for the past 12 years, 
and it is still about as numerous as it was at the be¬ 
ginning of the fight. JOHN H. POMEROY. 
Pennsylvania. 
R. N.-Y.—We call for a discussion of this weevil 
question in the hope of finding a remedy. The at¬ 
tention of nut growers is requested. Tell us if you 
can. what can be done in this trying case. The chest¬ 
nut crop is short at best, and it seems a shame to 
let the weevil get what the blight has thus far 
spared. Since writing the above Mr. Pomeroy adds 
the following. Can you help? 
“Mr. Springer says that if no better remedy was 
suggested by experts during the discussion of the 
subject in The It. N.-Y. we would adopt the practice 
of cutting off all burrs during July of every other 
year, and thus save about 75 per cent, of the chest¬ 
nuts during the next year. The worm hatched in 
September will not come out of the ground as a 
weevil the next year, but will the year after. All 
hatched before September come out of the ground 
as weevils the following year. Now if it were not 
for the fact that the grove is surrounded with chest¬ 
nut timber which harbors thousands of weevils we 
might clear the orchard of them by cutting the burrs 
off two years in succession, and thus save all the 
chestnuts for future years, but as the weevil works 
into the orchard from the timber in about a year, 
we conclude the best plan would be to cut the burrs 
off every other year and thus save about 75% of the 
nuts every other year. I hope, however, some plan 
will be suggested through your paper that will save 
the crop every year or a large portion of it. with less 
expense and labor than this plan.” 
March 0, 
THE FAMILIES OF POTATOES. 
M ANY farmers in this country have desired to 
know more about the varieties of potatoes, 
so that they may be able to distinguish one 
irom another, and know something of their history. 
The Department of Agriculture has now prepared 
a bulletin entitled “Group Classification.” This bul¬ 
letin takes up in detail each family of the potato. 
The families are arranged by their color, shape, 
also by their parentage. For instance, Group 9 is 
given up to potatoes of the Rural family with the 
following classification: 
Group 9.—Rural. 
Tubers: Broadly round-flattened to short, oblong, 
or distinctly oblong-flattened; skin creamy white. 
Sprouts: Base dull white; leaf scales and tips 
violet-purple to pansy violet. 
Flowers: Central portion of corolla deep violet, 
with the 'purple growing lighter toward the outer 
portion; five points of corolla white. 
Other families are grouped around Green Moun¬ 
tain. Pearl, Peachblow, Cobbler, Early Ohio, Tri¬ 
umph or Burbank. These families are described in 
considerable detail, so that a careful farmer, after 
studying this bulletin, will be able to know the fam¬ 
ily to which his potatoes belong. It is a very good 
pamphlet, and will be of great benefit to many of 
our potato growers. 
COW AND GARDEN SAVE A FARM. 
T IIE Farm Management Monthly issued by the 
Department of Agriculture prints the follow¬ 
ing story from North Dakota. We have no 
doubt of it. Nearly all observing people have seen 
cases where the cow, chickens and a good garden 
made the difference between loss and fair profit at 
farming. A well-kept garden is like an experiment 
station and college showing what improved culture 
will do if applied to all the farm. 
“A number of years ago a wheat farmer, whose 
exclusive grain growing had put him in debt, de¬ 
sired from his bank a loan of $1,000. Except the 
horses there was no live stock—not a cow. a pig. or 
even a chicken—on the place. The banker, a very 
shrewd business man. was able to analyze the prob¬ 
lem and to discover the cause of the farmer’s finan¬ 
cial difficulties, and he agreed to make the loan on 
condition that the borrower change his system of 
farming. The system outlined by the banker required 
that a portion of the loan should be used to purchase 
two cows, half a dozen pigs, and a small flock of 
poultry. It also provided for a fair sized vegetable 
garden. Grain farming was to be continued as be¬ 
fore. The banker figured that the live stock and 
the garden would, in poor as well as in good seasons, 
fully support the farmer’s table. lie figured that in 
poor years the farmer would be able to play even, 
and that in the good, and even in the average, year 
the farm would produce enough to gradually wipe 
out the debt. The farmer reluctantly agreed to the 
banker’s terms, received the loan, and met the cou- 
Weiker. 
S 11 ELI BARKS. Fig. 108. 
ditions. In five years he was out of debt and rated 
as a substantial and prosperous farmer and business 
man. To him farming had ceased to be a game 
of chance and had become a business.” 
Not one of the wise men—he who decides to buy a 
farm while the snow covers it. 
Will farmers who have used the commercial bacteria 
successfully on seeds of legume plants tell us just how 
they used the material? 
Our little talks about apple pomace have started up 
great interest in what has been considered a waste 
It will he a money product in a few years. 
And these gentlemen who claim to sell potato seed 
of “known hybrids—hand fertilized!” He who takes 
them seriously should lie prepared to laugh at what 
grows. 
