1880 



THE LANCASTER FARMER 



d65 



MANURING FRUIT TREES. 

 It makes Imt little (liin'rciicc wliotlier the 

 luaiiure dissolves on tlic siulacc iiiid liltcrs 

 throuj,'h roots of ^tiiss to the feedin;; roots of 

 Ihc apple trees, wliicli are then near the siir- 

 I'aee, or is plowed under and left in close eon- 

 taet with the feeding roots and there dis- 

 solved ; in either ease the wood and the fruit 

 of the trees aie Jionrislu-d anil jjrowth follows, 

 but the wilhlioldinj,' ('aiises poveity. 



The necessity of manuring heiii'; agri ed on, 

 when is the best lime, is the next (piestion ? 

 Corn is greatly benelited by I he applicalion of 

 manure to the surfaee of sod ni'ound the pre- 

 vious autumn, and many have said that where 

 they have coninieneed drawing out manure 

 the latter part of autumn and continued 

 drawing, as they made it through the winter, 

 spreading as they drew, the corn was best on 

 the side on whi(di the lirst manure wasspread, 

 and poorest where the last was aiiplied. If 

 this is true in corn it must also be true in 

 apple trees. Most of the growth of ai^ple 

 wood, and fruit spurs, for the ne.\t .sea.son's 

 fruit, is made during the months of May and 

 June, and consequently it is (|uite important 

 that fertilizers should re;ieh the roots before 

 that time, and to insure such a result the 

 manure should be applied on the siui'ace dur- 

 ing the fiill and winter. 



An oreliardist sh')nM cnnmienee drawing 

 out manure from his barnyard and spreading 

 it under and outside of the exterior branches 

 of his trees, as soon as possible after the apples 

 are gathered, ami continue the operation until 

 at least twenty good, large, two-horse loads 

 are ap|)lied to every acre. ' There is no use in 

 spreading it near the base of the tree, as there 

 are but few feeding roots there, and it affords 

 nesting for mice that will sometimes girdle 

 the trees when there are heavy snows. 



Now we would suggest to such farmers as 

 have barren, thriftless orchards, that they 

 apply this winter to their orchards the manure 

 they usually apply to their corn croi)S, jiro- 

 vided they have not enough for both, and then 

 manure the corn ne.xt spring, in the hill, with 

 conmiercial fertilizers, hen manure, etc., and 

 see if they are not better paid than by usirjg 

 their barnyard manure on the corn and allow- 

 ing their orchards to starve. —Aniuricun liiiml 

 Home. 



SENSIBLE VIEWS ON FARMING. 



Mr. Robert Bruce, of Smeaton, Yorkshire, 

 was awarded, in the early part of the last 

 month, the highest prize offered for an essay 

 on the subject of -How Farming can be 

 Made to Pay in Great Britain." Mr. Bruce 

 was the better ecjuipped for a discussion of 

 this subject from the fact that he had just re- 

 turned from a visit to the United Statics', where 

 he had made himself acquainted with our 

 "great resources and go-ahead farmers." As 

 the result of his investigations he is "not at 

 all despondent," he says, "as to the future of 

 British farming" if the antiquated land laws 

 and the restrictions impo.sed upon the tenant 

 farmers are done away with. But to be suc- 

 cessful the system of'farming at iiresent in 

 vogue must be radically changed. The course 

 laid down by him for the British farmer to 

 pursue, as a means of deriving a prolit from 

 his soil, notwithstanding he lias to compete 

 with the great West in the matter of l)read- 

 stuffs and provisions, is so entirely applicable 

 to our farmers in the older Atlantic States, 

 who alsosutfer from Western competition, that 

 it is well worth noting. Without going into 

 the reasons he presents for tlie advice he gives, 

 we reproduce the four rules he lays down for 

 making the occupation of farming proHtable. 

 These are : 



"Firstly, by greater attention to the culti- 

 vation of the soil, working more as the garden- 

 ers do, in thorough manner. Greater atten- 

 tion must also be given to the quality of the 

 diti'erent seeds sown, making sure "that the 

 best obtainable are jiut in the soil, and that 

 the kind sown suits the soil and climate. 



"Secondly, by greater attention to the live 

 stock kept, making determined etforts to keep 

 only stock of good quality, aud breeding more 



from good sires ; keeping them better and 

 more eomfortal)le, and getting tliem ready for 

 the liutiOier at an early age, 



"Thirdly, by paying greater attention to 

 dairy produce, making sure that the most is 

 made of it, and that what is made is of the 

 best (lualit . . 



"Fourthly, by greater attention to so- 

 called little things, such as fruit, poultry and 

 bees." 



Every one of these rules are as deserving to 

 be followed by our farmers of the seaboard 

 States as by thosit of Great Britain. Fulling 

 roughly the cost of transporting grain fnnn 

 the far West to Baltimore at iM cents per 100 

 pounds— the present rates from Kansius City 

 being 47 cents per 100 pounds for corn and '>2 

 cents for wheat— they start with a nuirgin ipf 

 .'id cents |)er bushel in their favor. With such 

 tillage as Mr. Sruee reconunends it would not 

 be dillicult to raise at l^ast :50 bushels of wheat 

 to the acre, while the largest product of the 

 great Dakota farms does not exc( ed 2.") bush- 

 els to the acre. The difference, therefore, 

 under such cLdtivation to the Eastern farmer 

 would be a saving of ,'{0 cents per bushel in 

 transportation, and an increase of '> bushels 

 in the yield per acre, with other crops in pro- 

 portion. He has also in his favor a monoi)oly 

 of the market for hay and wheat, rye and oat 

 straw, which will not bear transportation for 

 long distances. The soil that will bring .'JO 

 bushels of wheat to the acre will produce, in 

 a fair season, at least two tons of timothy, 

 with the promise of a similar crop from the 

 same lieUl for several years in succi ssion. It 

 is doubtful whether it will pay, with us, to 

 raise livestock for market ; but there is always 

 a ready sale for dairy produce, aud at high 

 prices if it is of the best quality. Finaliy, 

 as Mr. Bruce points out, the profits of a farm 

 may be consideral)ly increased "by greati'r 

 attention to little things," and he cites as 

 among thes(^ "fiuit, pcmltry and bees." On 

 these heads he remarks : "If we consider the 

 immense amount of money annually' paid to 

 foreigners" — outsiders, we might more prop- 

 erly say, as far as we are concerned — "for 

 butter, chee.se eggs and fowls, and then reflect 

 that our own farmers could easily supi)ly all 

 the people's wants, we at once see there is a 

 profit to farmers here which slips, year by 

 year, through their hands unnoticed." All 

 this is so true that we commend it to the 

 thoughtful attention of those farmers who 

 complain of Western competition, and who 

 have failed to discover that they have many 

 sources of profit with which the West caimot 

 compete, and that, even in respect to Western 

 grain, they have, under any circumstances, a 

 difference of 30 cents per bushel in their 

 favor. — Baltimore Weekli/ ISun. 



FRENCH REPORTS ON DISEASF.S OF 

 VINES AND REMEDIES ^ AMERI- 

 CAN WILD VINES — PHILOSOPHY OF 

 PLANT LIFE. 



The grapc'vine disease is discussed in the 

 annual industrial report of France. The 

 phylloxera vaslatrix is a microscopic insect 

 that stmgs the root and kills it, and linallv 

 destroys the vine, the branches turning yel- 

 low. Sulpho-carbonates introduced among 

 the roots kill the insects, but other insects 

 come. Submersion, where water is accessible, 

 does the same. In all ca.ses there is found no 

 Iiermanent protection by doctoring externally. 

 Fifty districts in France are already ruined, 

 and every year adds to the list. Unless some 

 efi'ective remedy be found France will, in time 

 not remote, cease to be a wine country. "Our 

 prosptrity cannot be assured unless our wine 

 men plant new stock known to have vigor to 

 resist the fatal puncture of the destroyer, and 

 unless our i\nii French vines can be preserved 

 by grafting on the healthy stocks." 



Twenty years ago American cuttings were 

 sent to France from a nursery in Georgia. 

 There were many varieties. Hundreds of 

 thou,sands of vines are now growing from 

 those cuttings. These vines may be recog- 

 nized from afar, iti vineyards stricken with 

 the disease, by their being iu full vigor. This 



experience gives satisfactory proof tliat 

 Araeriian vines can be got that will resist the 

 phylloxera. Here and there an American 

 vine is lonnd punctured, but never to the 

 heart of the root. The superficial wound 

 heals and leaves no impression on the plant. 

 French roots are slung and i)oisoned to the 

 vital centre. All these American vines, of 

 forty varieties, are grafted with favorite 

 French stocks, which have derived notable 

 vigor and large fruitage fronj the American 

 sap, without losing any of the delicate flavor 

 of the giape or impairing the value of the 

 wine. Here, then, is our salvation a.ssured, 

 if .lur people will lose no time in its adoption. 

 But giafting requires skill and nice manipu- 

 latiun. and many fear the expen.se and lia- 

 bility to failure. This has led to the discovery 

 of a simpler and better way to attain the same 

 object, nioie iu accord with nature. The 

 plainest farmer can do it without aid from 

 experts. Take a French and an American 

 cutting, each having {'i\n buds, unite them at 

 the third bud, lie them toiielher and .so plant 

 them. They will so assimilate that the twain 

 become one by blending Ihegap of their roots. 

 The plant is thus invested with American 

 vigor and French nature combined. "The 

 American root soon smothers the other, aud 

 without grifting we obtain what we desire, 

 viz: We get fruit from French vines nour- 

 ished by American roots." Several varieties 

 of proved American vines are named, viz : 

 Jacquez, Clinlou, Black .Iidy, Salonis, Taylor, 

 &c. In California innumerable varieties can 

 be found equally available for the same pur- 

 pose. 



This French system is called blending, to 

 distinguish it from grafting, which it super- 

 sedes. If it be successful in regenerating ex- 

 hausted vines, it nmsl be eipially etleclive in 

 all fruit trees. Apples and piars in (.'alifornia 

 are losing vitality, so that in ten years Oregon 

 will have to supply us. But by blending cut- 

 lings with slips of wild or of seedling trees, 

 existing varieties may be born again. Blend- 

 ing must also be applicable to shrubbery, aud 

 to the ve;:etable kingdom generally. Ameri- 

 cans will ri quire something more than theory 

 and initial experiment to convince Ihem that 

 exhausted vitality and consequent want of 

 vigor to resist decomposition by insects and 

 other means can be regained, with proUmga- 

 tion of the allotted period of the race, by 

 arlilicisof any sort. At best, blending can 

 iinly be, like grafting, temporary revivifica- 

 tion, which but puts off the final degeneration 

 that is now visiting all grafted stock, of 

 whatever kind, in Euiope and America. 



Life iti nature depends upon rotation and 

 variety for health and reproduction. "Variety 

 is the spice of life, that gives it all its flavor." 

 All efforts to defeat this law by restricting 

 growth to a few favored S|ieeies. to the exclu- 

 sion of natural varieties, nmsl end, as our 

 grafting .system has ended, in disaster, com- 

 pelling us to return to natural means of pro- 

 pagation from seed. The great need of 

 agriculture is the study of the philo.sophy of 

 plant life. The most exigent law is that of 

 i/ener-.tion, which forbids all tampering and 

 intermeddling of art, under penalty of retri- 

 bution, which is now being adiiiinistered. 

 Farmers know the value of rotation of crops ; 

 why not rotation of fruits? 



Let every man who has an orchard of 

 grafted trees prepare for replacement by new 

 varieties grown from seed. A nureery is 

 good, but a Held is better. Plant six seeds to 

 the |)lace where one 's to be standard, and 

 when they show fruit let your choice stand 

 and cut away the rest. Here and there save 

 one remarked for rugged vigor and iiuiiivilinij 

 fruit. One such tree in twenty .should be in 

 every orchard to invigorate the rest in the 

 time of (lowering, that being the nuptials of 

 plants. Let the life of these fruclitiers be 

 wild as nature. Let them branch to the very 

 ground to mulch it. Keep away the jiruning- 

 knife. Leave them to nature, which will 

 intensify their reproductive power and impart 

 vigor to their pampered associates. 



What peculiar element does chemistry find 



