A  WONDERFUL  JERSEY  FRUIT  FARM. 
HOW  BONE  HAS  BUILT  IT  UP. 
Not  long  since  The  R.  N.-Y.  spoke  of  the  farms  of 
Mr.  Thomas  Vincent,  one  of  which  is  located  at  West 
Orange  and  the  other,  known  as  the  Livingston  farm, 
is  located  a  few  miles  from  the  first  named.  A  brief 
visit  was  paid  to  the  first  farm  on  the  occasion  alluded 
to,  and  the  wonderful  result  of  a  generous  supply  of 
bone  dust  in  a  peach  orchard  was  noted.  The  Rural 
has  visited  both  these  farms  since,  and  has  procured 
the  statistics  of  production,  which  will  be  found  inter¬ 
esting,  illustrating  the  wisdom  of  a  free  use  of  ferti¬ 
lizer.  On  the  West  Orange  farm,  Mr.  Vincent  keeps 
a  dairy  of  100  cows,  the  milk  of  which  he  sells  at  retail 
in  connection  with  his  market  business  in  Orange,  a 
business  which,  by  the  way,  does  the  largest  retail 
trade  of  any  in  the  State  in  that  line.  The  stable 
manure  all  goes  on  the  land  plowed  for  ensilage  and 
fodder  crops,  and  he  relies  on  commercial  fertilizers 
for  his  fruit — very  wisely  so,  as  we  think  results  will 
show. 
The  Livingston  farm  he  purchased  about  four  years 
ago.  It  contains  144  acres.  The  first  year  it  came 
into  his  possession,  he  cut  nine  loads  of  hay.  The 
past  season  he  cut  116  loads— a  very  gratifying  im¬ 
provement.  No  dairy  is  kept  on  this  farm;  the  dry 
cattle,  however,  are  kept  here.  As  soon  as  they  come 
into  milk,  they  are  taken  to  the  other  farm.  Rone 
dust  has  been  liberally  used  on  this  farm,  and  the 
crops  bear  evidence  of  the  generous  measure  with 
which  he  has  bought  it.  To  raise  228  bushels  of  rye 
on  five  acres,  as  he  did  the  past  season,  and  115  bushels 
of  wheat  on  three  acres  is  pretty  good  farming,  lie 
has  erected  a  very  large  new  barn  on  this  farm,  which 
contains  every  convenience,  and  is  an  ornament  to  the 
965  dozens  of  eggs.  So  far  in  1892  we  have  produced  HORTICULTURAL  GOSSIP, 
from  the  same  farm  4,024  quarts  strawberries,  10,06.)  Talk  about  deaconing  fruit !  Why,  the  dealers  in 
heads  of  cabbage,  1,003  dozens  eggs,  863  baskets  toma-  New  York  city  can  and  do  out-deacon  Old  Nick  him- 
toes,  146  bushels  of  Lima  beans,  8,975  ears  green  corn,  seif.  Just  take  a  walk  through  the  markets  and 
760  bushels  potatoes,  228  bushels  rye,  125  bushels  watch  the  fellows  at  work.  One  is  “deaconing” 
wheat  and  151  tons  of  hay.  sweet  potatoes.  Another  is  operating  on  white  pota-  , 
It  is  not  to  be  understood  that  the  maximum  pro-  toes.  They  “  deacon  ”  the  pears,  they  “deacon”  the 
duction  has  been  reached  on  these  places.  1  nder  the  appie8j  the  quinces,  the  peaches,  the  plums,  the  ber- 
vigorous  management  of  Mr.  Vincent,  it  is  perfectly  rjes  Qf  kin(jS)  the  tomatoes,  the  beans  and  the 
safe  to  say  that  the  production  will  be  trebled  in  less  peaS-  And  these  are  the  people  who  accuse  the  farm- 
tlian  five  years  from  to-day.  Many  of  the  fruit  trees  ers  Qf  “deaconing."  The  trouble  is  this:  They  ob¬ 
ject  to  being  taken  in  by  “  deaconed  ”  goods,  but  they 
reserve  the  right  to  “take  in”  their  patrons.  “Deacon¬ 
ing  ”  is  all  right  when  they  do  it— it’s  all  wrong  when 
the  other  fellows  work  the  sinful  game. 
The  beautiful  Muscats  and  still  more  beautiful  To¬ 
kays  from  California  have  doubtless  had  something  to 
do  with  the  low  prices  which  have  prevailed  for  Atlan¬ 
tic  coast  grapes.  At  times  these  choice  fruits,  Tokays 
and  Muscats,  have  sold  at  retail  at  10  cents  per  pound 
and  in  crates  of  40  pounds  at  from  $1  to  .ft.  50.  Just 
now  they  are  higher.  They  are  very  fine  in  quality. 
Not  so  with  the  peaches  our  Pacific  friends  send  us. 
One  rarely  buys  a  second  lot  of  them.  They  are  beau¬ 
tiful  to  the  eye,  but  so  greatly  inferior  to  our  own 
that  they  are  a  disappointment  to  the  taste. 
The  people  of  this  city  have  at  last  had  a  surfeit  of 
Keiffer  pears.  The  numerous  orchards  that  have 
been  planted  have  been  rapidly  coming  into  bearing, 
and  the  city  has  been  flooded.  The  Italian  fruit  ven¬ 
ders,  whose  stalls  occupy  every  foot  of  available  side¬ 
walk  space  in  eligible  localities,  and  whose  carts 
swarm  like  locusts  in  our  streets,  bought  them  freely 
because  of  their  fine  appearance,  and  the  public  bought 
them — that  is  to  say,  each  pear  buyer  bought  one  and 
place. 
Since  his  occupancy  of  this  place  he  has  set  out  3,000 
peach,  250  pear,  50  apple  and  200  cherry  trees, 
and  they,  like  all  the  other  crops,  have  made  a 
fine  growth.  We  do  not  remember  to  have  seen 
in  any  section  a  finer  and  thriftier  lot  of  cherry 
trees  than  were  here. 
“  How  much  fertilizer  have  you  bought  for 
these  two  farms  in  the  past  two  years  ?  ”  said 
The  Rural. 
“  On  the  West  Orange  farm,  in  1891  I  used  16  / 
tons  of  Lister’s  ground  bone,  and  in  1892  16  / 
tons  more  of  the  same  material.  On  the  Living-  /  / 
ston  farm  in  1891  I  used  eight  tons  and  in  1892  /  ' 
eight  tons  more — all  of  Lister’s  bone.”  /  / 
“Had  you  any  special  reason  for  using  bone  I 
over  complete  fertilizer  ?  ”  \ 
“  Well,  no.  I  knew  that  bone  was  good  and  I  \  \ 
knew  the  land  was  poor,  and  as  I  don’t  believe  \  \ 
in  stinting  things,  I  put  on  the  bone  generously.  \ 
Would  you  put  on  bone  another  year  ?”  \ 
“  Decidedly  not.  At  least,  not  on  the  land 
where  you  have  so  generously  applied  it. 
Especially  in  the  peach  orchards  would  we 
recommend  potash  in  some  form.  The  muriate 
or  hard-wood  ashes  would  be  good  forms.  Have 
you  any  statistics  of  productions  of  the  farms  ?  ” 
“Yes,  here  are  the  figures  for  the  two  farms  for 
1891  and  1892:  West  Orange  farm  1891 — 7,369  baskets  of 
peaches,  5,365  quarts  strawberries,  3,038  quarts  goose¬ 
berries,  456  quarts  raspberries,  757  quarts  blackberries, 
nine  baskets  pears,  66  baskets  apples,  4,930  pounds  of 
grapes  and  268,845  quarts  of  milk.  In  1892  from  the 
same  farm  we  have  sold  up  to  October,  12,052  quarts 
strawberries,  52  baskets  cress,  1,228  quarts  gooseber¬ 
ries,  4,320  quarts  currants,  435  quarts  raspberries,  and 
13,672  baskets  peaches.  From  the  Livingston  farm  in 
1891  we  sold  1,525  quarts  of  strawberries,  5,050  heads 
cabbage,  200  baskets  turnips,  225  muskmelons,  375 
baskets  Lima  beans,  1,550  ears  green  corn,  750  baskets 
tomatoes,  375  bushels  potatoes,  676  pounds  poultry  and 
Orange  Russet  Pear.  Fig.  289. 
/•  - *  wit 
4 
Orange  Russet  Pear.  Half  Section.  Fig.  290. 
are  too  young  for  bearing  and  some  have  just  begun. 
We  have  never,  seen  finer  plantations  of  strawberries 
than  those  we  examined  on  the  West  Orange  farm. 
The  solid,  matted  rows  were  perfect. 
The  use  of  chemical  i  fertilizers  on  fruit  trees  is  get¬ 
ting  to  be  very  popular.  Many  an  orchard  is  fed  on 
fertilizers  alone  with  a  green  crop  like  clover  plowed 
in  at  intervals.  It  used  to  be  thought  that  an  orchard- 
ist  must  keep  a  big  herd  of  stock  or  buy  large  quantities 
of  stable  manure  in  order  to  keep  his  trees  thriving 
It  was  this  or  feeding  grain  to  sheep  in  the  orchards 
Mr.  Vincent  and  others  have  proved  that  good  fertilizers 
will  yield  the  best  of  fruit  and  feed  the  trees  perfectly. 
then  hated  himself  for  an  hour  for  thus  squandering 
his  nickel.  The  writer  does  not  believe  they  will  sell 
for  as  much  as  apples  five  years  hence,  and 
he  most  devoutly  hopes  the  general  planting  of 
them  in  the  North  will  be  stopped.  In  the 
South,  where  the  finer  pears  do  not  flourish, 
they  may  be  grown  with  propriety. 
Despite  the  advice  given  by  some  interested 
parties,  we  decidedly  prefer  spring  to  fall  plant¬ 
ing  for  grapes.  The  same  is  true  of  raspberries 
and  blackberries.  Fruit  trees  may  be  planted 
}'  in  the  fall,  but  to  secure  the  best  results,  the 
roots  should  be  carefully  looked  after,  making 
smooth  cuts  where  the  ends  have  been  broken 
or  mutilated.  Unless  this  is  done,  they  some- 
/  times  begin  decaying  before  spring,  while  if 
Yy  they  are  cut  smoothly,  they  will,  as  a  rule, 
yy  callus  over  before  the  ground  freezes.  It  is 
/  well  to  Go  tree  planting  in  the  fall  because  of 
^  the  pressure  of  spring  work,  which  sometimes 
makes  it  difficult  to  accomplish  in  the  spring. 
The  old  Virgalieu,  or  White  Doyenn<$,  which 
has  become  almost  unknown  of  late  years  by 
reason  of  the  difficulty  of  growing  it,  was  once 
and  is  yet,  an  excellent  pear.  It  would  seem 
that  persistent  spraying  with  the  copper  solu¬ 
tions  ought  to  make  it  practicable  to  again  grow 
it.  Have  any  of  our  horticulturists  tried  it?  It  is 
worth  the  effort.  F 
Cooperative  selling  of  fruits  will  never  prove  a  suc¬ 
cess  where  different  glowers’  lots  are  all  lumped 
together,  to  be  sold  at  a  common  price.  This  plan 
puts  too  much  of  a  premium  upon  the  slipshod  or  dis¬ 
honest  methods  of  the  careless  growers  and  packers, 
and  discourages  honest  effort.  There  are  many  ad¬ 
vantages  in  shipping  and  selling  in  large  lots,  of  which 
the  small  grower  cannot  avail  himself,  but  any  plan 
which  does  not  insure  to  each  man  his  just  dues  must 
ultimately  fail.  Skill  and  honest  endeavor  must  not 
be  forced  to  compete  with  incompetence  and  trickery. 
