16 THE EUItAL LIBEARY. 



was then sown with buckwheat, which in turn was plowed under, and 

 we found the land in flue condition after plowing in the spring, the 

 estimated value of the two crops plowed under being equal to 25 loads 

 of manure per acre. Wheat or rye could be sown after turning under 

 the buckwheat and seeded, if you wish to do it." 



Tlie Double Crop System, 

 Everybody along the Hudson Kiver kaows W. D. Barns, of Middle 

 Hope. Mr. Barns is a fruitgrower of many years' experience, and as 

 a member of the Board of Control of the New York Experiment Station 

 is well known throughout the State. His place was next visited, and 

 here we found several peculiarly characteristic features. Mr. Barns 

 has 86 acres. His son is in the fruit business with him, having left a 

 business in the town to enter it. The peculiar features of this farming 

 are the heavy use of stable manure and the system of double crop- 

 ping. For example, there are 28 acres of grapes, with a row of straw- 

 berries between each two rows of grapes, and a current bush between 

 each two vines in the rows and at the stakes. In the peach orchards, 

 pear and apple trees are set, so that when the peaches are done bearing, 

 there is still a fruit orchard left. The peach trees are set 15x15 feet, 

 and the apples and pears 40x40. The peach trees last— with Mr. Barns's 

 cultivation— about 10 years. Every third year they set out from five to 

 eight acres of peaches — thus working the entire farm into fruits. Of 

 course this double cropping system demands an immense amount of 

 manure. As the strawberries are among the grapes, of course a good 

 deal of the stable manure goes there. This practice differs from Mr. 

 Wygant's, for example. The stable manure is needed on the berries 

 however and, in. this double system, probably the manure is not so 

 objectionable as it would be if put directly on the grapes. Mr. Barns 

 was not prepared to say whether he thought the stable manure induced 

 too great a growth of wood. We understood him to say tha.t he rather 

 thought it did. In fact, he spoke of one vineyard near the barn that 

 made an immense wood growth, but bore few grapes and finally 

 stopped. By the heavy use of wood ashes the vines were brought to 

 bear. On peaches, he believes, with the others quoted in these articles, 

 that fertilizers give the best flavored fruits. Ho uses stable manure 

 only on young trees, always putting the fertilizers on the bearivg crop. 



Ttie Value of Stable Manure. 

 Mr. Barns uses every year about 500 tons of stable manure and five 

 tons of mixed fertilizer. He also uses some kainit. Where does he get 

 this great quantity of manure ? He has a contract with the horse car 



