1479 
Fruit Trees True to Name 
The Nurseryman’s Guarantee 
DISAPPOINTMENT that comes too often to 
the orchard is t is the failure of varieties to 
come true to name. The It. N.-5T. has frequently 
called attention to this, and has vigorously upheld 
the interests of the fruit growers. The disappoint¬ 
ment and financial loss involved are frequently ser¬ 
ious, and legal redress uncertain; often it is, for 
various reasons impractical to seek it. It is prob¬ 
ably unfair to the nursery trade to say that these 
substitutions are often intentional though doubt¬ 
less some of them are. They usually come about 
through the accidental introduction of a few buds 
of some odd variety in the nursery row, and through 
repeated cutting of budsticks for suc¬ 
cessive generations of nursery trees the 
error is carried on and multiplied. For 
example a few buds of Wealthy become 
mixed in a Baldwin row. Two years 
later the nurseryman visits this row to 
cut Baldwin scions or bud sticks and 
in so doing includes scions from the 
Wealthy trees as well. Two years 
later the same thing occurs and in this 
way the proportion of Wealthy trees 
may constantly increase. Of course 
mixtures and misleading of varieties 
may occur anywhere during the pro¬ 
cess of digging, storing and shipping 
trees, but it is probable that most of 
the mixing occurs in the nursery rows. 
Such a mixture may spread far and 
wide through the common practice 
among nurserymen of selling or 
changing scions or bud sticks, 
writer/-knows one case where a mix¬ 
ture made over 10 years ago in a large 
nursery has in this way become wide¬ 
spread, and involved several different 
nurserymen and a great many oreliard- 
ists in the unfortunate error. 
Such mixtures in the nursery row 
are, in apples at least, unnecessary, 
and without valid excuse, for it is pos¬ 
sible for a trained man to distinguish 
the varieties in such mixtures as they 
stand in the nursery, and to cull out 
the spurious trees. In fact with equal 
training it is as easy to reeognize va¬ 
rieties of apples from the growing 
nursery trees as from the fruit. 
Until recently the position of nurs¬ 
erymen with respect to errors in va¬ 
rieties has been to accept responsi¬ 
bility to the extent of the value .of tin* 
nursery trees only. The following is 
a typical statement on this point, no 
better and no worse than the average: 
THE RURAL NEW-VORKEK 
successful and is adhered to by the firms inaugurat¬ 
ing this departure from the usual practice. 
Massachusetts Agricultural College f. c. sears. 
er, most assuredly. The ‘job looks large, however, 
and it seems to me does not commend itself to 
farmers bred up on a stiffer soil. a. t. t. 
New Jersey. 
Y 
Is this Check Book Farming? 
’OUR correspondent, E. L. Fish, pages 1394-5, 
presents an interesting history of the reclam¬ 
ation of sandy barrens in South New Jersey. The 
owner was doubtless farming on a check book of 
formidable figures, as his estimate of expenses led 
him to conclude that his methods showed “nothing 
difficult” and “almost no expense for fertilizer,” I 
am a resident of New Jersey, but not on the sand 
limit. About here most farmers would estimate 30 
loads of manure worth $30 to $40. Plowing four 
D 
ers’ 
ex- 
The 
to 
‘We guarantee 
label and hold 
our trees to be true 
ourselves ready at all 
Thrashing With Flail—A Good Cold Weather Job. Fig 556 
Thrashing With Modern Equipment. Fig. 557 
times to replace or refund the purchase 
price on all that prove otherwise; but 
we are not liable for damages other than 
the above named.” 
If the grower must wait for fruit 
before discovering the error the dam¬ 
age is more than twice the original 
value of the trees. Therefore the bur¬ 
den of the damage is thrown on the 
orehardist and not on the nurseryman 
who was responsible for the error. 
One must wait five years or more, at 
which time the trees have cost at least 
$5 each, and the refund of the original 
cost of the trees, perhaps 25 cents, does 
not go far toward offsetting the dam¬ 
age. 
Recently two nursery firms have in¬ 
serted a guaranty in their catalogs 
which may mark the advent of more 
satisfactory relations between the 
nurseryman and the orehardist. One 
of these is as follows: 
“We guarantee that all trees and plants 
purchased from us shall he true to name as labelled. 
For any stock which does not prove true to name and 
as represented by us, and as bought by you, we are to 
make good your loss or damage by reason thereof at 
any time within ten years of the date of purchase. In 
event we cannot agree, we are each to appoint one 
arbiter who shall choose the third and the award of a 
majority shall be binding on both parties.” 
The other guaranty is practically the same except 
that it states that the award of the arbiters is to 
be accepted as binding on the nursery firm but does 
not state that it shall bind both parties. 
Such a guaranty made by a responsible firm will 
lead to the purification of their nursery rows and 
result in very few misnamed trees being sent out. 
It is difficult to see how other firms can long avoid 
the adoption of a similar guaranty, provided it is 
Working into the Hog Business. Fig. 558 
times with the requisite disk and harrow work and 
an application of lime that looked like the “first 
fall of snow,” and the necessary seed for growing 
legume crops for turning under with the total for 
cultivating would he safe to estimate $25 or $30 to 
the acre, which added to the valueless manure should 
make a total of from $00 to $70 per acre. Selling 
at $100 per acre looks good without experience, 
however. I should suppose that a barren sand of 
shoe depth would leach badly no matter what the 
application for stopping the drainage might be. If 
the $100 buyer was equipped with a mobile bank 
book, so that the continued renewal of legumes, lime 
and 30 loads of manure would flow on and on, the 
desert should blossom to the satisfaction of its own- 
Selling Vermont Maple Sugar 
Sugar makers about here are not satisfied with syrup 
prices. Buyers come in here, furnish cans or barrels, 
and pay us what they have a mind to, 80 cents last 
Spring, for the best. I understand that in Vermont 
they are getting $1.25 per gallon where they used to 
get 75 cents. Can you tell us how we can improve con¬ 
ditions? v. II. KIRIC. 
St. Lawrence Co., N. Y. 
URING the past two years some work has been 
undertaken by the Vermont Maple Sugar Male- 
Association in cooperation with Publicity De¬ 
partment of the Secretary of State’s 
office and the Commissioner of Agricul¬ 
ture, in the way of finding a direct 
market for first quality Vermont ma¬ 
ple sugar and syrup. The Sugar Mak¬ 
ers’ Association, which is an organiza¬ 
tion of long standing, two years ago 
adopted an attractive three-colored la¬ 
bel bearing the seal of the State, a 
number of which are furnished to each 
of its members for use on packages of 
maple goods shown in Fig. 555. 
By various means of advertising the 
Publicity Department secured a mail¬ 
ing list of bankers and doctors and 
other classes of people all over the 
country who would likely be interested 
in securing a supply of pure maple 
goods. The Agricultural Department 
had printed a bulletin giving the story 
of how Vermont maple sugar is made, 
giving a lithograph copy of the Sugar 
Makers’ Association label, and also a 
list of the members of the association 
as persons from whom a supply of pure 
maple goods could be obtained. 
Of course the standardizing of the 
sugar and syrup, and honesty in deal¬ 
ing must be left to the individual mem¬ 
ber. but the penalty for any unfair 
dealing would be expulsion from the 
association and prosecution in case of 
adulteration under the pure food law. 
. So far many producers of maple 
goods have been put in touch with' de¬ 
sirable customers, and the foundation 
laid for a good trade in the future. 
Maple sugar and syrup are products 
which are valuable in proportion to 
their weight and when packed, can lie 
shipped long distances at a reasonable 
price. These products when properly 
made and put up will keep throughout 
the year in almost any climate, so that 
householders may lay in a year’s sup¬ 
ply. Many of our best sugar makers 
are now marketing all their first class 
goods direct' to consumers,- and with a 
little effort this business could be ex¬ 
tended so that all the fancy sugar and 
syrup made in Vermont could be mar¬ 
keted at prices remunerative to the 
producer. e. s. brigham, 
Vermont Commissioner of Agriculture. 
Mulching Apple Trees With 
Paper 
We have an orchard of about 2.000 
three to five-year-old apple trees. Labor 
is scarce and in the past we have been 
so busy doing Spring plowing and spray¬ 
ing that quack grass would grow up 
around the trunks of the trees and roll 
them of moisture before we could get 
a chance to dig around them. We have also 
found that if this job is done by the av¬ 
erage help they are apt to injure the roots 
or bruise the trunk. Can you see any 
objections to my following out this pro¬ 
cedure in the Spring? Take a square of 
tarred paper and cut out a hole in tin* 
center for trunk of tree to go through, 
then cut through to one edge, place this 
around tree to cut out sunlight. Will this injure the 
tree in any way? J. w. f. 
E have tried this on a small scale with young 
trees, and found it a good plan. We have 
even used newspapers—slipping them around the 
tiees and throwing dirt on top to hold the paper 
down. This gave a shade or mulch around the tree 
and prevented most of the grass and weed growth. 
If put on while the soil was moist the paper checked 
evaporation and saved cultivation. The heavier pa¬ 
per would answer around these trees, but would be 
rather expensive. We should prefer the heavy build¬ 
ing paper to the tar paper, and after putting it 
around the tree we should throw dirt on the edges 
to weight it down in place. 
