332 
The  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
March  3,  1923 
\ 
k'  n 
PRAYING  is  easy 
if  you  have  a  HARDEE 
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ful.  It  is  easy  to  handle  in  the 
orchard.  It  throws  a  big  cloud  of 
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Hardie  power  Sprayers  are  made 
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from  200  to  400  pounds. 
If  only  a  few  trees  are  to  be 
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Write  for  the  complete  Hardie 
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and  sizes,  both  power  and  hand 
— one  for  every  spraying  need.  - 
HARDIE  MANUFACTURING  COMPANY 
Manufacturers  of  Hand  and  Power  Sprayers 
HUDSON  MICHIGAN 
“BROOKLYN 
BRAND ” 
COMMERCIAL  FLOUR  SULPHUR,  99>^%  pure,  for  spraying,  and 
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Also  Crude  Nitrate  Soda  and  Crude  Saltpetre. 
BATTELLE  &  RENWICK 
80  Maiden  Lane,  New  York 
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Edmonds’  D 
Poultry  a 
Account D 
A  complete  record. 
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R  aaL  The  Rusal  New-Yokker 
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BOX  23  STERLING.  ILL. 
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THE  HOPE  FARM  BOOK 
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This  attractive  234-page  book  has 
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Man’s  popular  sketches  —  philos¬ 
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For  Sale  by  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
335  West  30th  Street,  New  York 
Story  of  the  Wealthy  Apple 
ABOUT  I860  a  pioneer  at  Excelsior,  Minn.,  found  himself  in  dire 
straits.  His  possessions  consisted  of  but  one  cow,  several  chickens, 
eight  dollars,  and  a  large  family,  with  the  severe  Winter  of  that  country 
rapidly  approaching.  He  had  come  to  this  region  for  his  health  in  1853 
from  Clinton,  Ill.  Previous  to  that  he  had  lived  in  Champaign  County,  O., 
the  place  of  his  birth.  Immediately  upon  his  arrival  in  Minnesota  he  had 
set  out  30  varieties  of  apple  trees,  a  collection  of  plums,  pears  and  cher¬ 
ries,  besides  planting  a  bushel  of  apple  seed  and  a  peck  of  peach  seed.  At 
the  end  of  10  years  the  hard  Winters  of  the  region  had  killed  every  seed¬ 
ling  but  one,  a  crab,  and  left  him  in  the  condition  described. 
The  story  runs  that  an  invisible  being  appeared  to  him  and  told  him 
to  send  his  eight  dollars  to  a  certain  address  in  Maine  for  apple  seed. 
He  had  but  one  suit  of  clothes,  and  that  was  in  wretched  condition,  but 
be  took  two  vests  and  sewed  them  together  to  make  a  coat,  and  supplied 
sleeves  to  this  makeshift  garment  by  cutting  off  the  legs  from  an  old  pair 
of  trousers.  In  lieu  of  shoes,  he  swathed  his  feet  in  gunny  sacks.  And 
so  this  persevering  horticulturist  planted  with  faith  the  seed  of  the 
Cherry  Crab  that  he  purchased  from  Albert  Emerson  of  Bangor,  Me., 
with  the  last  of  the  -wealth  that  he  possessed.  The  world  has  ever  sung 
the  praises  of  Peter  M.  Gideon,  the  originator  of  a  famous  apple,  for 
from  one  of  these  seeds  sprang  the  tree  destined  to  be  named  “Wealthy.” 
The  feat  is  all  the  more  remarkable  when  one  considers  that  Minne¬ 
sota  is  far  from  being  a  horticulturist’s  paradise.  The  sweet 
cherry,  the  European  plum,  the  peach,  the  better  pears  and  apples  are  not 
hardy  enough  to  stand  the  rigors  of  the  region,  and  the  sour  cherry  fruits 
but  occasionally.  In  other  words,  there  was  not  much  encouragement 
and  very  little  reason  for  the  enthusiasm  and  determination  that  Peter 
Gideon  showed.  Perhaps  there  was  a  bit  of  irony  in  the  name  that  he 
gave  to  his  new  creation. 
To  the  Northern  regions  which  must  subsist  upon  crabapples  and 
the  tough,  coarse  flesh  of  the  Russian  sorts — such  as  Hibernal,  An¬ 
tonov  ka,  Titovka,  Malinda,  and  related  kinds,  the  Wealthy  is  the  queen 
of  the  king  of  fruits.  It  is  a  beautiful  apple,  striped  and  splashed  as  it 
is  with  attractive  red,  sometimes  almost  brilliant,  and  with  its  regular, 
symmetrical,  round-conic  outline,  somewhat  flattened  at  the  base.  One  of 
its  chief  characteristics  is  the  smooth,  abrupt,  moderately  deep  basiu, 
quite  distinct  from  the  more  narrow  and  pinched  basin  of  the  Wolf  River, 
for  which  it  has  been  unintentionally  sold  to  some  extent.  The  flesh  is 
whitish,  very  juicy,  crisp,  tender,  with  an  agreeable  sprightly  flavor.  The 
quality  is  good  to  very  good.  Its  season  is  September  or  October,  although 
it  may  be  kept  until  January  in  cold  storage.  Unfortunately  it  does  not 
hold  up  as  well  as  later  sorts,  and  this,  combined  with  the  over-planting 
to  which  it  has  been  subject,  has  made  it  a  drug  on  many  markets. 
But  it  is  the  tree  that  has  made  the  Wealthy  one  of  the  favorite  sorts. 
Because  it  is  hardy,  it  is  planted  extensively  in  the  colder  regions;  and 
because  it  is  a  vigorous  grower  when  young,  yet  slower  as  it  reaches 
maturity,  and  because  it  comes  into  bearing  early,  it  is  planted  in  other 
regions  as  a  filler. 
Among  the  faults  of  the  Wealthy  is  its  tendency  to  overbear  and 
become  an  alternate  bearer.  Wlien  mature  it  often  produces  small  and 
inferior  fruit.  Recent  work  has  indicated,  however,  that  proper  thinning, 
pruning  and  fertilizing  tends  to  overcome  these  troubles.  Now  that  the 
boom  attendant  upon  the  advent  of  this  rather  recent  variety  is  past,  we 
may  look  for  a  steadying  market,  while  in  the  Northern  countries  the 
name  of  Peter  Gideon  will  be  known  for  generations  to  come.  h.  b.  t. 
Strawberries  in  Florida 
Our  readers  have  long  been  interested 
in  the  strawberry  culture  of  D.  L.  Hart¬ 
man  of  Florida.  We  have  had  several 
statements  about  it.  Last  Fall  Mr.  Hart¬ 
man  planted  176, 000  strawberry  plants, 
all  by  hand.  Of  course,  he  did  not  do  it 
all  himself,  but  we  think  he  handled  a 
majority  of  them.  They  covered  about 
1(1  acres. 
Strawberry-growing  iu  Florida  is  very 
different  from  the  way  we  do  it  in  New 
Jersey.  We  plant  in  Spring  and  then  have 
a  full  season  of  fighting  runners  and 
weeds,  and  a  Winter  under  a  mulch,  be¬ 
fore  we  can  hope  for  a  crop.  Hartman 
sets  out  his  parent  plants  iu  the  Spring 
and  works  them  through  the  Summer  to 
produce — not  berries,  but  as  many  runner 
plants  as  possible.  The  ground  is  fully 
prepared — made  rich  and  fine  and  level, 
and  then,  in  October,  these  runner  plants 
are  set  out  in  beds  1  ft.  each  way.  There 
is  space  between  the  beds  for  the  pickers 
to  stand.  In  the  genial  climate  of  Florida 
these  runner  plants  lose  no  time  getting 
ready,  as  they  do  in  the  North.  By  Jan¬ 
uary  they  have  begun  to  ripen  fruit,  and 
they  keep  it  up  until  April  or  May.  Many 
of  you  have  grown  the  so-called  “ever- 
bearing”  varieties.  You  know  how  you 
set  out  the  plants  in  April  or  May,  aud  in 
July  or  August  are  picking  berries.  Well, 
most  of  our  Northern  varieties  seem  to 
act  that  way  in  Florida.  But  the  climate 
is  treacherous  as  well  as  genial,  and  these 
plants  have  a  race  with  the  frost.  When 
they'  dodge  the  frost  and  get  their  big  red 
berries  in  ahead  of  him,  the  grower 
dreams  of  an  European  trip.  When  frost 
gets  them,  as  it  often  does,  the  grower 
tightens  up  his  belt  and  resigns  himself  to 
a  season  of  cow  peas,  barn  and  home 
work.  For  while  the  Jerseyman  puts  his 
berry  plants  to  bed  and  asleep  from  No¬ 
vember  till  March,  the  Florida  man  routs 
them  out  of  bed  aud  makes  them  work 
through  the  season. 
Hartman  says  he  expected  only  a  me- 
diuum  crop  this  year,  but  it  is  rushing 
upon  him  so  fast  that  all  his  skill  as  a 
salesman  will  be  needed  to  dispose  of  the 
berries.  On  Feb.  2  he  sold  over.  1,600 
qts.  at  40c  wholesale.  On  Saturday  the 
full  picking  ran  to  3,000  qts.,  and  it  will 
keep  growing. 
Hartman  sent  us  a  couple  of  quarts 
early  iu  February.  A  few  hours  after 
they  were  picked  these  berries  were  in 
the  icebox  of  a  Pullman  dining  car,  speed¬ 
ing  north.  At  New  York  a  passenger 
took  them  in  hand,  and  as  he  stepped  off 
the  train  gave  them  to  us.  This  delivery 
of  fresh  berries  was  nearly  as  remarkable 
as  their  production.  The  fruit  was  per¬ 
fectly  sound  and  sweet.  They  were  as  fra¬ 
grant  as  a  bouquet,  as  red  as  blood,  and 
many  of  them  as  large  as  Astrachan  ap¬ 
ples.  Hartman  fully  deserves  success- — 
and  it  is  coming  to  him. 
At  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  following  sugges¬ 
tions  that  a  cow  and  a  pig  be  placed  in 
the  Municipal  Zoo,  because  many  St. 
Louis  children  have  never  seen  either. 
Superintendent  of  Instruction  Maddox 
instituted  a  poll  of  sixth-grade  pupils. 
He  has  announced  that  of  5,376  children 
questioned,  40  per  cent  had  never  seen 
a  sheep,  and  17  per  cent  had  never  looked 
upon  a  pig.  Twelve  children  out  of  every 
hundred  had  never  seen  a  cow. 
