JAN 20 1906 
89225 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
141 
MR. ST RING FELLOW’S CHALLENGE. 
His Letter to the NATIONAL NURSERYMAN Quickly Followed by 
One to the Rural New Yorker—Offers to Prove the Value of 
His Method as Far North as Maryland—His Proposition 
to Peach Growers —To Grow Stub-Root Trees 
Where Peach Orchard Has Died of 
••Yellows. ” 
Last month we published a letter from H. M. Stringfellow 
of Lampasas, Tox , regarding the progress of his stub-root 
demonstration. Quickly following that appeared this commun¬ 
ication in the Rural New Yorker: 
I read with great interest Prof. Johnson’s account of that old mam¬ 
moth Maryland peach tree, which, without the friendly aid of plow and 
cultivator, has attained such vast proportions, and if those implements 
are really a benefit to fruit trees, surely there must be somewhere 
peach trees of equal size and productiveness. In order to locate them, 
I <»ffer through your columns, a reward of $25 to anyone in the United 
States who will point out any such peach tree that has been plowed 
and cultivated with ordinary regularity. According to orthodox horti 
culture there is absolutely no good reason for the existence of that old 
monument of neglect aud especially for its singular habit of “ never 
missing a crop of peaches, and frequently bearing so heavily that the 
branches are broken,” as Prof. Johnson relates. Of course, according 
to my views, the problem is easily solved. Being of “Crawford type” 
it is plainly a seedling, and having come up where it has escaped the 
plow, its entire root system is in a natural condition, jus.t like any forest 
tree, and it is only doing itsdmy. Just reflect, Mr. Editor, how dif¬ 
ferent would be the situation to day in Maryland, if all the peach trees 
that have been planted in the 26 years since that seed peeped above 
ground, had done only half as well ! That they would have done 
equally well, had they been treated with the same “masterly inactiv¬ 
ity ” that was meted out to that old tree. I am perfectly convinced and 
I purpose with your permission to demonstrate it, at my own expense. 
You pick out a fair, unprejudiced man in the heart of the former 
Maryland peach district, who has no San Jose scale on his grounds, and 
let him select an acre on which a peach orchard has in the last few years 
died of the yellows. Have him lay off the rows 20 feet apart, and mark 
places for the trees the same distance, except one row, which must be 
set 10 feet apart in the row. Next, let him thoroughly pound the earth 
with a heavy square-end piece of timber for a space of two feet every 
way from the point where trees are to stand. After thoroughly com¬ 
pacting the ground, drive holes six or seven inches deep and about an 
inch or more in diameter and after dropping in a little fine soil, insert 
the trees, pressing them firmly down. Next pour in slowly a cup uf 
water and a handful of pulverized earth at the same time until the 
holes are full. Then apply two pounds of Mapes. preferably, or any 
other good tree fertilizer to each tree, scattering evenly over the four- 
foot circle. In addition to this he must as an experiment apply two 
pounds of copperas (sulphate of iron) to one row, pulverizing it before 
doing so. A mulch of hay or straw sufficient to keep down weeds must 
then be placed on the four-foot circle around the trees. Finally drill in 
thinly cow peas in rows two or three feet apart on the ground between 
the tree rows. I omitted to say that all lateral roots must be cut close 
from the trees and the tap roots of 20 trees cut off six inches below the 
crown. 20 trees five inches, 20 trees four inches, 20 trees three inches, 
10 trees two inches and 10 trees one inch. Tops must be cut back to 
six inches above the ground and all growth allowed to remain the first 
year without trimming or pruning 
I send inclosed a list of 22 vaiieties from which 100 trees can be 
selected in lots of 10, which I will deliver to the experimenter, express 
charges prepaid. The varieties mentioned are: Elberta, Emma, Sneed, 
Matthew’s Beauty, Greensboro, Triumph, Carman, Susquehanna, 
Alexander, Amelia, Crosby, Crawford, Foster, Wager, Mountain Rose, 
Oldmixon, Stump, Heath Cling, Salway, Chairs. I will pay also for 
the cow peas, copperas and fertilizer, for which bill can be sent to me 
here. Moreover, if any one of the trees that, lives one year, dies during 
my lifetime (I am now 62) I will send the owner a $10 bill. All this on 
condition that no plow’, cultivator or other implement disturbs the soil, 
or stock be allowed among the trees until they begin to bear, when I 
would advise that hogs have the run of the orchard, first ringing or 
splitting their noses. The cow peas are to rot on the ground the first 
year and mowers run twice a year between the tree rows for three years, 
clippings allowed to remain where they fall. I insist on the trees being 
planted where an orchard has died of the yellows. Those I send will 
be June-budded trees with tap roots, from East Tennessee. I will say 
that I cured ordinary chlorosis or a yellowing of the leaves last summer 
on young grapevines and peach trees by applying one pound of pulver¬ 
ized copperas around each one, and would suggest that some one ex¬ 
periment on peach trees with the genuine “ yellows.” Would also say 
that I experimented fully eight years ago with Bordeaux Mixture and 
also a liquid made by slaking rock lime and sulphur with boiling water, 
for bitter rot on Keiffer pears, after picking. Boxes thus treated 
showed just as much rot as those not treated. Now send the name of 
your man, and I will have the trees he selects forwarded. 
Lampasas, Tex. H. M. Stringfellow. 
HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OFFICERS. 
Southern Illinois— President, J. W. Stanton, Richview ; secre¬ 
tary, E. G. Mendenhall, Kinmundy. 
Vermont State— President, Arthur H. Hill, Isle La Motte ; secre¬ 
tary and treasurer, D. C. Hicks, North Clarendon. 
Michigan State— President, Ii. M. Kellogg, Three Rivers ; secre¬ 
tary, C. E. Bassett, Fennville; treasurer, A. W. Slayton, Grand Rapids. 
Maine Pomological— President, Z. A. Gilbert; vice-presidents, I). 
V. True, C. A. Arnold ; secretary, D. H. Knowlton, Farmington ; treas 
urer, C. S. Pope. 
Maryland State— President, James S. Harris, Coleman; vice-presi¬ 
dent, W. F. Flitton, Brownsville; secretary and treasurer, Prof. H. P. 
Gould, College Park. 
Illinois State— President, Henry M. Dunlap, Savoy; vice-presi¬ 
dent, W. H. Young; secretary, L. R. Bryant, Princeton; treasurer, I. 
W. Stanton, Richview. 
Ohio State— President, William Miller, Gypsum; vice president, 
W. N. Scarff, New Carlisle ; secretary, W. W. Farnsworth, Waterville; 
treasurer, N. Ohmer, Dayton. 
Northern Illinois— President, J. L. Hartwell Dixon; H. D. 
Thompson, E. D. Haverhill and L. H. Cutler, vice-presidents; L. 
Woodard, Marengo, treasurer. 
Virginia State— President, Samuel B. Woods, Charlotteville; 
treasurer and corresponding secretary, Walter Whately, Crozet; record¬ 
ing secretary, H. B. Dinwiddie. 
Northeast Iowa— Elmer Reeves, of Waverly, president; J. B. 
Mitchell, Cresco, vice-president C. H. True, Edgewood, secretary; 
D. A. Ivins, Iowa Falls, treasurer. 
Missouri State —President, N. F. Murray, Oregon ; vice-presi¬ 
dents, D. H. Robnett, Samuel Miller ; secretary, L. A. Goodman, Kan¬ 
sas City ; treasurer, A. Nelson, Lebanon. 
Central Illinois— President, II. Augustine ; first vice-president, 
George J. Foster; second vice-president, S. N. Black ; secretary, J. C. 
Blair of Urbana ; treasurer, W. S. Zeigler. 
Iowa State —President, M. J. Wragg, Waukee: vice-president, N. 
K. Fluke, Davenport; secretary, W. Green, Davenport; treasurer, El¬ 
mer M Reeves, Waverly; directors, first district, C. G. Blodgett, Mt. 
Pleasant: third, Silas Wilson, Atlantic; fourth, Wm. Langham, Cedar 
Rapids; fifth, W. O. Willard, Grinnell; seventh, Ben Schontz, Correc- 
tionville; ninth, B. F. Ferris, Hampton; eleventh, W. A. Burnap, 
Clear Lake. 
HAD GOOD RESULTS. 
David H. Patty, Geneva, N. Y., Dec. 16, 1900.—“I have about 
sold all the salable stock I have for spring, hence do not care to adver¬ 
tise. If I had the stock to sell, I would certainly use your columns, as 
I have had good results from advertising with you in the past.” 
