1'H.bC KUKAL NBW-VUKKEK 
675 
(Soe Fiji. 248.) One man wrote that when limbs 
broke from wind or weight of fruit they always 
broke a foot or so above the graft. Another man 
fold me of sawing out the grafts and splitting them 
and said: “The union is fine, almost impossible to 
break it.” 
(c) Is the union sif/htln? 
Usually so. The younger the tree the less the 
chance of an unsightly callous or knot. Mr. Hutch¬ 
ins reported such a knot on a Kieffer worked to 
Hose, hut said that later it disappeared. The 740 
Kieffer fives in the orchard of Mr. Ileinze, which 
were grafted to Bose and Howell at seven years of 
age. after seven years of growth, are about as 
smooth as ungrafted trees, while on the 20-year-old 
trees of Mr. Holmes grafted when they were two or 
three it is frequently impossible to tell just where 
the graft took place. (See Fig. 240.) 
(ill horn th< prof ling make a viporous, lastiny 
lire? 
The oldest trees examined were the 20-year-old 
trees of Mr. Holmes, which have been worked 18 
a ears. These are as healthy and vigorous as could 
be desired. Mr. Bury writes that his 100 15-year- 
old trees, worked 11 years, seem stunted and poor. 
The trees in the orchards of Mr. Ileinze, Murphy 
Bros., and Dr. Kales, 740, 500. and 250 trees respect¬ 
ively, and top-worked nine, seven and eight years, 
are as vigorous and thrifty trees as a man could ask 
for. and give every promise of long life and product¬ 
iveness. 
Having discussed the question of the union we 
now come to the question of advisability. 
(e) Is the f/rafted tree more subject or less sub¬ 
ject to hii(jht? 
The Kieffer seems very erratic in the matter of 
Might. Once it was believed to lie immune, and fre¬ 
quently it seems little affected but when it starts to 
blight there seems to be no way of checking the dis¬ 
ease. The sentiment seems to be that there is more 
danger of blight in the grafted tree. When it at¬ 
tacks tin* grafted tree it spreads more quickly, and 
is more destructive. Especially is this true in graft¬ 
ing older trees. Of course the period of special dan¬ 
ger is the first few years after grafting, and when 
ibis coincides with a blight epidemic there is a prob¬ 
ability of serious loss. 
(f) 117/a/ is the effect on the fruit? 
Where there is any change noticed the size and 
appearance of the fruit is improved. One grower 
thought the fruit inferior, while many of them said 
that there was a distinct gain in size. If the shape 
varies at all it is only slightly. Three different 
growers report that the fruit is two weeks ‘later in 
yellowing. 'This is a distinct advantage. On the 
matter of quality the growers are about equally di¬ 
vided. and equally sure, some insisting on no change, 
unless an improvement, while others insist that 
there is a noticeable coarseness and inferiority. One 
grower believes that there will be a separate classi¬ 
fication for Bart lefts grown on Kieffer stocks on 
account of tin* poorer quality. 
(g) Is the plantint/ <>f Kieffers for top-worliinij 
ml rixable? 
The operation of grafting sets a tree back about 
two years. On clay soil the difference in growth and 
time of bearing between Bartlett and Kieffer is not 
much more than two years, and so nothing is gained 
by top-working for ltartletts on clay. If is possible 
that on lighter soil where the difference in growth 
and time of hearing between Kieffer and the Euro¬ 
pean pears is greater, or in case of Bose and other 
poor growing varieties, there would be a distinct 
gain. The danger from blight makes it very prob¬ 
lematical whether planting Kieffers with the idea 
of using them as stocks is a wise thing to do or not. 
Where Kieffers have already been planted, and are 
not too old, it is possible to top-work them to Euro¬ 
pean varieties with a reasonable prospect of success. 
Ohio. PAUL TIIAYEB. 
A Machine for Treating Seeds. 
The Iowa Experiment Station describes a new 
machine just invented, which is to he used for in¬ 
creasing the percent of germination in legume seed. 
As till who have used such seed know, much of it is 
covered with a hard coat, through which the germ 
is unable to make its way. The machine in ques¬ 
tion breaks off or removes this hard coating, with¬ 
out injuring the seed, and through this work in¬ 
creases greatly the percent of germination. In¬ 
stances are given where seed which gave only a 
germination of 10</ r or less, gave after treatment 1)0 
or 05 percent of sprouting. In every case apparent¬ 
ly where this machine has been used live seed has 
l een made far more vital, and the percent of germ¬ 
ination wonderfully increased. In fact this machine, 
a picture of which is shown at Fig. 247. bids fair 
to prove a wonderful help to those who sow clover 
or Alfalfa seed. The machine was developed at the 
Iowa Experiment Station, and represents eight years 
of work on the part of Prof. H. D. Hughes. It has 
a capacity of 25 bushels*per hour, and requires about 
four horsepower for its operations. A United States 
patent has been applied for. but the right to make 
Ihe machine will he given freely to the public. The 
Iowa State Board of Education has decided to throw 
Ames Hulling and Scarifying Machine. Fig. 247. 
the manufacture of the machine open to the public, 
so that its use may not he restricted in any way 
through monopoly of price or otherwise. This fol¬ 
lows the wise and patriotic plan followed by Prof. 
S. M. Babcock, when he gave to the public the right 
to manufacture and use his milk tester. It is well 
known that if Prof. Babcock had patented his in¬ 
vention. and secured a monopoly of its distribution 
and sale, he could have made himself many times a 
millionaire. The American people should remember 
Bartlett on Kieffer, Grafted Four Years. Fig. 248. 
kindly these men like Prof. Babcock, who work out 
machines or methods for the benefit of farmers and 
then decline to monopolize them, but on the other 
hand give them freely to the public. 
Harrowing After Plowing. 
The clipping below is cut from a seed catalogue, pub¬ 
lished in this State. The assertions are plain, but no 
attempt to prove them is made. What do you think 
of such teaching? f. ii. 
Virginia. 
The advice referred to is as follows: 
Do not harrow or disk your land immediately after 
plowing—let it rest at least 12 to 15 days, according to 
the season, to allow the air to penetrate, the weeds to 
rot. foul seeds to sprout, and the microbes to multiply ; 
a process of fermentation called ripening, and without 
which you cannot have your land in proper physical 
condition any more than you can have good bread with¬ 
out leaven ; you can give your land the proper chemical 
condition at any time by simply applying your 2-S-2. 2- 
8-2, or other commercial fertilizers, but the proper physi¬ 
cal condition cannot be obtained by sheer force, you 
cannot push it; like dough, it must have the required 
time to rise or ripen. 
After allowing this process of fermentation to take its 
course, your land is ready for disk or harrow; these 
are two great instruments for the farm, but in the 
hands of the farmer who does not know when his land 
is ripe or does not allow it time to ripen, they can do 
much harm, and if the farmer neglects to give his land 
the above mentioned opportunity of ripening, it should 
be no surprise to him to find the same sour, constipated 
and unclean; onions, cockle and partridge peas in his 
wheat fields, cheat and onions in his oats, plantain and 
wild carrots in his clover, and weeds and grass every¬ 
where. 
Eet your land ripen before disking, and you will have 
better and cleaner crops, and less work to keep them 
clean. 
What do we think of such teaching? The teacher 
ought to go to the primary school. On our own 
farm such practice would ruin us. The rough fur¬ 
rows turned up loose to our drying winds would 
quickly dry out and turn to lumps as hard as a 
brick. Or if the weather turned wet and kept so the 
rain, would beat and wash this open soil until it 
“puddled" and caked hard. It would be nearly im¬ 
possible. with ordinary tools, to fit such land proper¬ 
ly. If a crop of rye or other green crop were plowed 
under, leaving the soil open and loose in this way 
would be the worst thing one could do on our soil. 
The air would work in freely and dry out the soil, 
and also start a rapid fermentation which would 
sour the land so as to cause great injury. We have 
had dozens of Complaints about rye as a green crop. 
The report is that corn was “poisoned” when follow¬ 
ing such rye. In every such case investigated we 
have found that the rye was simply turned under 
and left after the manner of this advice. In this 
way (lie soil lost its moisture and the fermenting 
rye filled the top soil with acid. If the land could 
have been packed down hard at once and harrowed 
lightly on top moisture would have been held in the 
soil and the heavy fermenting prevented. 
Our advice is to harrow carefully immediately 
after plowing. If possible keep a harrow in the 
field and spend the hist part of each day in harrow¬ 
ing the ground plowed that day. Go lightly over 
it at least and the “dust mulch” thus made will 
keep the soil moist and mellow—far more likely to 
“ripen” than if left to dry out in the rough fur¬ 
rows. There are. of course, variations to all rules 
hut as a general proposition it is better to harrow 
as soon as possible after plowing. 
A Benefit from Mulching. 
I N lh12 I had an acre and a quarter of peas, most¬ 
ly Canada field peas. Seeded with these were 
clover, Timothy and Alfalfa, the first two at the 
rate of 10 pounds to the acre and the last at rate of 
five pounds. My idea, in sowing the Alfalfa, was 
to get the soil, which is a limestone clay loam, in¬ 
oculated. as it is well adapted to Alfalfa. The 
peas made a heavy growth, and bid fair to be a 
large crop, but at harvest time, there came a pro¬ 
longed wet spell, which molded them so badly that 
by the time dry weather came again, there would 
have been but little use in trying to save them. 
Furthermore, the clover, Alfalfa and Timothy, had 
such a fine start that it would have been a shame to 
cut them. I therefore left the crop where it was. 
The following year. I had a fair crop of hay from 
the piece, there being three loads from an acre and 
a quarter. East Summer 1 had six loads from the 
same piece. The hay consisted of Timothy with a 
fair admixture of Alfalfa. It was lodged a good 
deal in spots. We did not even rake the piece, but 
loaded right from the swath, (with a hay loader). 
The loads spoken of were on a coon rack 14 feet 
long by 8i/> feet wide, and five feet high. They were 
loaded over the top of this, perhaps a foot. We es¬ 
timated the weight at 2,500 pounds of green hay. or 
nearly a ton of hay after it had cured in the barn. 
This piece had had no fertilizer at all, and no ma¬ 
nure for four years, and the only cause I can think 
of for the extraordinary yield, was the rotting of 
the heavy crop of peas. If the increase in last 
Summer's crop, over that of the previous year, was 
all due to the peas, which I think it is, I got nearly 
all the crop would have been worth, in the extra 
hay. with the chance that the crop the coming two 
years will also be largely increased. 
ALBERT II. I)K GRAFF. 
It. N.-Y.—Those of us who have practiced the 
“mulching” of orchards are satisfied that a good 
share of the benefit comes from shading the soil and 
creating a good place for the formation of nitrates. 
When a man declines a big plate of ice cream at a 
banquet and asks to be given an apple instead. I think 
he establishes a record as an ardent lover of fruit. 
Such a man is the Rev. Dr. William II. Van Allen, 
whom I heard ask for a “big red apple" in place of 
cream at a recent dinner.—Boston Post. 
Better study that rotation on a South Carolina planta¬ 
tion—page G74. When the South comes generally to 
this steady use of cover crops the production of food 
in that section will be enormous. What a wonder that 
the Southern people who, most of all. need the benefits 
which dairying would bring to their section, are most 
responsible for the oleo industry. 
