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Avith a hoe, they have given better satisfaction than the av- 

 erage of men. They generally come in units, living at 

 some central place by themselves, and go and come to their 

 work in groups. I believe that this kind of labor will 

 prove of real service to us in the lighter work of picking, 

 packing and hoeiilg. Our hardest job will come in finding 

 labor to spread manure, plow and do the heavier work of 

 spring. We have tried school boys and young college stu- 

 dents to some extent, but they have not proved entirely sat- 

 isfactory, and my judgment is that up to the limit of their 

 strength the older women of ambition and character will be 

 more satisfactory than this boy or student labor. 



The fertilizer question will bother us greatly this year, 

 I find it harder than ever to buy stable manure, and harder 

 yet to depend on having it hauled over the railroad. The 

 price too has gone up so as to make it almost prohibitive. 

 I have been able to buy considerable quantities of chicken 

 manure. A number of large chicken men in my neighbor- 

 hood became discouraged over the various poultry rulings, 

 and have about decided to give up their business. They 

 will sell off their stock, and as they have only a limited 

 amount of land they are willing to sell the manure. I buy 

 this chiefly for its nitrogen and potash, and probably at the 

 price we pay for it it is the cheapest source of potash we can 

 get this year. The manure comes to us dry, and without 

 much litter. We spread it around our fruit trees during 

 spring and early summer, and plan to add a fair amount of 

 phosphate along with it. We are trying several kinds of 

 phosphate this year, in the hope of learning how to econo- 

 mize with this fertilizer. There seems to be no question that 

 acid phosphate is the most desirable form, especially for 

 fruit growing and gardening, but this season it is almost 

 impossible to obtain this phosphate at a living price. I shall 

 experiment to some extent with the Barium phosphate, 

 which is produced in the Northern part of New York. I am 

 not sure yet that this will prove any more satisfactory than 

 raw phosphate rock but I believe it is one of those things 



