1519 
U'tdiC RURAL NEW-YORKBR 
RURALISMS 
Fruit Notes from Missouri 
McDonald Blackberry. —The Sum¬ 
mer of 1015 was favorable to small fruits. 
There was a sufficiency of rainfall and 
an abnormal coolness which worked for 
slower ripening and better keeping. The 
new hybrid dewberry-blackberry, McDon¬ 
ald, again demonstrated that it is the 
most valuable of all its tribe, and I am 
now confident, after a test of this va¬ 
riety extending over 10 years, that it 
will certainly take its place as a stand¬ 
ard, and even the greatest among stand¬ 
ards. It is the first of all its family to 
bloom and to show ripe fruit. Its ber- 
and of the very largest size, glossy and 
beautiful and luscious to a high degree. 
Its weakness lies in the lack of firmness 
in its fruit, which forbids long distance 
shipments. For a local market, however, 
I rank it next to the McDonald which 
it follows in ripening at an interval of 
about a week. In blooming, also, it is 
the best contemporary of the McDonald, 
and therefore mates it best as a pollen- 
izer. For these various reasons I regard 
it as the best second early for local mar¬ 
kets and a very decided acquisition to our 
list of varieties. 
Eldorado. —The first main crop va¬ 
riety to ripen is the Eldorado, which fully 
maintains here its generally good repu¬ 
tation. Its fruit ranks among the larg¬ 
est, is of fine table quality, the growth 
Comparison of Four Blackberries 
ries grade as dewberries of the largest 
size, and go on the market when there 
is nothing of their class to compete with 
them. It receives, therefore, the highest 
prevailing market price of the season, 
and the fact that it grades as a dewberry 
adds from 25 to 50 cents per crate. It 
is enormously productive, in this respect 
unsurpassed if not unrivalled. It shows 
great vitality and vigor of growth and 
resistance to drought. It has never win¬ 
ter-killed here, enduring 14 deg. below 
zero. It has never been infected with 
rust and its dewberry blood probably 
makes it entirely immune. It has the 
fault of being a pistillate, requiring cross 
pollination. For this purpose may be 
"v' ' II 
IImmis 
The Dallas Dewberry 
turns for its owner. The berries were 
medium in size and Similar to the largest 
of those borne by the roundleaf Himalaya 
which has produced some marketable 
berries. 
Mersereau. —The Mersereau would 
probably be the best main crop variety 
if it were not for the rust. Annual dig¬ 
ging out of infected canes has left few 
specimens of this sort here, and I shall 
not replant it. The Watts is another 
even worse offender in this respect. The 
last cane has been thrown on the brush 
heap. 
Taylor’s Prolific. —This is my best 
late berry, beginning to ripen when the 
main croppers are half gone, and holding 
on for some time after they are all pick¬ 
ed. It has a very thrifty yellow cane 
that suckers abundantly and is very re¬ 
sistant to rust. The berry is medium to 
large, long and excellent quality. Tay¬ 
lor’s has the fault of overbearing and 
trying to mature more fruit than it can 
possibly bring to good size and flavor. 
For this reason it has to be pruned more 
closely than any other kind except Early 
Harvest, which has the same failing. 
L. R. JOHNSON. 
Cape Girardeau Co., Mo. 
is fairly vigorous and no rust has ever 
attacked it. 
Ward.— The Ward has also won ap¬ 
proval here for its general good qualities, 
among which one of the most esteemed is 
its freedom from rust. In appearance it 
resembles the Mersereau, but seems to 
grade a fraction below that kind in size 
and richness of flavor. 
Other Sorts. —The Erie is another 
sort that has an unbroken good record 
here. I have heard that it would rust 
but it has certainly resisted exposure to 
that disease here through a long series 
of years. Its fruit is very large, round 
and showy and remains hard and acid 
long after it is black. It is the poorest in 
employed the tame dewberries, the Early 
Harvest, Maxwell, Dallas and Sorsby. 
King. —Covering most of the McDon¬ 
ald season we have the well-known Early 
Harvest, heretofore the standard extra 
early. It is exceedingly productive but 
its small berries cannot compete with 
large ones except by having their price 
cut to an unprofitable level. Next we 
have the King following closely without 
a break, a variety of many fine qualities. 
It berries are a third larger than those 
of the Harvest and of best quality, sweet¬ 
er than the Eldorado. Its defects are un¬ 
usual thorniness and dwarfish growth. 
For large canes the soil must be made 
very rich; no use planting it on thin 
soil. 
Maxwell. —The Maxwell appears to 
be a long-known variety that is rarely 
heard of and which never gained popu¬ 
larity. Now on trial here I value it very 
highly indeed. It shows dewberry stock 
in habit of growth; its berries are round 
the list to eat out of hand but a good 
market berry and its large strong canes 
can be depended for a big yield. Blow¬ 
ers was discarded here when it was first 
introduced years ago but a recent trial 
has won it good opinions. The new Black 
Diamond that is reported to be so suc¬ 
cessful in the East (New Jersey) has 
been declared a failure by at least one 
grower here in Missouri. On my own 
two-year-ohl vines were a few clusters of 
berries that manifested the nubbiny 
character of the Himalaya family of 
which this is a member. In fact no 
difference could be detected in general 
appearance of cane and leaf between it 
and the cut-leaf Himalaya whose fruit 
here is worthless. It is possible it may 
prove to be identical with it. I have re¬ 
considered my intention of planting a 
number of vines. But there is no doubt 
it is a success in some States for a fruit¬ 
ing cane was sent me from a New Jersey 
field that was making very profitable re- 
Sheep Manure for Shrubs and Lawn 
Is sheep manure used about shrubs and 
trees now as effective as it would be if 
used in eaidy Spring? If it is to be used 
as a lawn fertilizer, what is the best time 
to put it on? L. B. o. 
Leonia, N. J. 
Fertilizers containing a high percent¬ 
age of ammonia, such as sheep and hen 
manures give the best results when ap¬ 
plied in the Spring. When applied in 
the Fall much of the nitrogen escapes in 
the form of gas and is lost, even though 
the manure is spaded in and well mixed 
with the soil. The plants being dormant 
cannot make use of the free nitrogen 
as fast as it is released, nor can they 
make use of the leachings incident to 
heavy Winter rains and melting snows, 
and much of it is carried below and out 
ol reach of the feeding roots of the 
plants. Most shrubs are comparatively 
shallow rooted, and form their masses 
of fibrous or feeding roots quite near 
the surface. Therefore to secure the best 
results, the manures should be applied 
in the Spring and worked into the soil, 
when it will be immediately available for 
the plants’ use, and without loss of any 
of its manurial constituents, thus ensur¬ 
ing maximum benefits from any given 
amount applied. 
Apply sheep manure to the lawn in 
Spring about the time the grass begins 
to grow. The reason for this is prac¬ 
tically the same in the essential of pre¬ 
venting loss of nitrogen, as that given 
above in reference to the manuring of 
shrubs. k. 
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