468 
Jht RURAL NEW-YORKER 
March 6, 1920 
Buy the Best 
THE 
MAPES FAMOUS 
FERTILIZERS 
The Standard for 
Generations 
Basis Bone and Guano 
No Rock Used 
Availability without Acidity 
Choicest Forms of POTASH--- 
Sulphates, Carbonates and 
Nitrates all free from objec¬ 
tionable materials. For 
Tobacco, Fruits, etc., where 
these forms are required. 
Foreign Muriate for General Farm Crops 
Ample Supplies of Potash 
In Our Brands This Year 
Manufactured as in the past 
with precisely the same care 
as to the choiceness and 
adaptability of the materials 
for the crops for which they 
are intended. 
Send direct to us or to our nearest 
Agent for pamphlet and prices 
THE MAPES FORMULA & 
PERUVIAN GUANO CO. 
143 Liberty Street, New York City, N. Y. 
Hartford Branch 
239 State Street 
Hartford, Conn. 
Fruit Notes from Missouri 
A Big Strawberry.— The accompany¬ 
ing picture is of a Joe strawberry that 
weighed nearly ounces. Such a 
weight calls for a very large berry, larger 
than one would guess who had never seen 
these big specimens. As 1 pick up the 
new catalogues and see the conspicuous 
place now given to the Joe (alias Big 
Joe, alias Joe Johnson) I feel very com¬ 
placent over the tardy rendering of jus¬ 
tice to this very fine variety. For years 
I tried to kindle a fire of popularity 
.around it by persistent flattering reports, 
but the spark that finally set it to blazing 
seems to have been struck in New Jersey 
or thereabouts, where it appears that its 
culture near its original birthplace at 
llightstowu never had died out. but lira 
been industriously maintained by certain 
fruit growers who had discovered its 
merits. The Joe has proved itself the 
greatest show berry ever grown here, and 
1 do not know its equal, not excepting 
such lauded kinds as the Chesapeake. 
Here it excels the Chesapeake in size and 
productiveness and as a plant-maker, and 
equals it in all other respects. The finest 
crop of .Toe I ever grew was produced 
on rows that were five years old. There 
was a fair number of young plants and 
t he rows had been fertilized with a mulch 
of cow manure. I should not think of 
trying to grow this heavy producer of big 
berries on any soil that was not deep, 
moist and rich. 
A Trying Season.— A Spring and Au¬ 
tumn of rain separated by a Summer of 
drought was the record of last year. 
Strawberries in many places were hard 
hit by the drought, which brought about 
the death of many plants and cut short 
the production of runners. Never has 
there been a higher return for the grower 
than the prices of the last two seasons, 
but unfavorable moisture conditions 
regretted that the Maxwell is almost ex¬ 
tinct. so far as the nurseries are con¬ 
cerned. and that the other proved polli¬ 
nator is either not the true Dallas or 
there are two distinct varieties going 
under that name. A friend in Texas lias 
ventured to bestow a name on the true 
pollinator, and has christened it the Early 
Wonder. Both the Maxwell and the 
Wonder are second earlies and valuable 
market sorts, but the former is too soft 
for a shipping berry. Let us hope that 
the present obstacles in the way of the 
full fruiting of the McDonald may be 
removed. 
Marketing Apples. —We are now be¬ 
ginning to put our cold storage apples 
on the market. We find the grocers un¬ 
satisfactory buyers. They are accus¬ 
tomed to send their orders to St. Louis, 
and they seem to shy at the home-grown 
product as something they fear to rely 
upon. There is really some excuse for 
this attitude, for the home-grown product 
is usually not to be compared with the 
strictly graded and wrapped fruit in 
boxes. On the other hand, we find a dis¬ 
position among old private customers to 
favor the home product, for the reason 
that they have not been entirely pleased 
with the quality of the apples at the 
shops, or peddled out to them from car¬ 
loads of second grades, and hope to find 
something better. As some of them are 
sending in second orders, we have reason 
to believe that our local fruit has nothing 
to fear from foreign competition. Thanks 
to the action of the grocers, we are cut¬ 
ting out the middleman’s profit by selling 
direct. L. R. JOHNSON. 
Cape Girardeau Co., Mo. 
Culture of Poinsettia 
Will you tell me about the cultivation 
‘if Poinsettia? Are they grown from 
Strawberry Weighing Nearly Tiro and a Half Ounces; Variety Joe 
greatly restricted the number of those 
who were able to profit thereby. The 
great lesson of those seasons which should 
be burned unforgettably into our experi¬ 
ence is that the greatest enemy of the 
fruit grower here in the Central States 
is drought. We should shape our work 
always as if a drought were impending, 
and should never for an instant be un¬ 
mindful that the foe even then might be 
preparing a descent, upon us. With in¬ 
tensive cultivation it is possible to carry 
the strawberry plant safely through al¬ 
most any period of drought, and to neglect 
it at this time of soaring prices is, to say 
the least, not wise management. 
Pollination of MeDonai.d Black¬ 
berry. —Wanted—A pollinator for the 
McDonald blackberry hybrid. I confess 
that I have had ocular proof of but two 
varieties that have been accepted by this 
new comer as proper affinities. Those 
were the Maxwell and a variety supposed 
to be the Dallas of Texas, unfortunately 
both of them practically unknown to 
Northern growers. I myself am a suf¬ 
ferer among no doubt many others. My 
old plantation, always an unqualified suc¬ 
cess. was destroyed to make way for a 
young and larger planting. But alas for 
the plans of men ! The McDonhul. 
home-grown plants, grew perfectly, but 
the purchased pollinator plants were a 
failure, as was a second planting. In 
consequence I have some grand rows of 
McDonald that don’t produce enough to - 
pay for their pruning. The Early Harvest, 
which from its early season of blooming 
seemed to be safe to rely on as a polli¬ 
nator. has not. so far as I can hear, 
proved a success, yet 1 noted that Mc¬ 
Donald plants separated by the width 
<>f a narrow roadway from the Early 
Harvest set some berries on the plants 
nearest to the Harvest. At the same time 
I receive a letter from a correspondent 
stating that, the Harvest had failed as a 
pollinator to the McDonald. It is to be 
seed, or must one buy young plants? How 
could I start a small greenhouse of them? 
Belleville, N. J. j. h. s. 
The Poinsettia of florists, grown for its 
brilliant red bracts around the little flow¬ 
ers, is botanically Euphorbia pulcherrima. 
It is propagated from cuttings. The 
young plants give the largest heads, so 
the usual plan is to grow from cuttings 
annually, but old plants may be held over 
if desired. After the flowering period, 
when the red bracts are produced, stock 
plants are rested for a few months, then 
brought into a warmer temperature in 
Spring, with a supply of moisture, to 
start into active growth. Young wood, 
which is used for cuttings, is freely pro¬ 
duced, and if desired, a succession of cut¬ 
tings may be secured from continued 
growth. The cuttings are rooted in sand, 
in a warm frame, and kept growing in¬ 
doors, until well started. The potted 
plants may be plunged outside until Sep¬ 
tember. in a well-drained place with abun¬ 
dant sunshine. If exposed to cold or un¬ 
favorable conditions they will drop their 
leaves. They are usually potted in 5-in. 
to 7-in. pots, requiring a rich, heavy lo.un 
with plenty of drainage material in the 
bottom of the pot. In early Autumn, be¬ 
fore there is any risk from cold rains or 
frost, the plants are moved to a green¬ 
house with moderate temperature. When 
the bracts begin to appear more warmth 
is desirable, and an occasional application 
of manure water. After flowering is over 
the plants are stored away in a cool dry 
place until Spring. Florists often stow 
the pots away under the greenhouse 
benches until they are started into growth 
in Spring. While, from a commercial 
florist’s point of view. Poiusettias are 
easily grown, there is a decided knack in 
getting best results, and it would be wise 
to gain some experience before devoting a 
small greenhouse to them. 
