702 
TH 
A FAITHFUL ANIMAL. 
The flea is generally pointed out as the animal having 
the stoutest muscles in proportion to its weight. We are 
told that if the elephant’s big muscles were proportionately 
as strong as those of the flea, he could move a good share 
of the world ! There is only one animal so tireless and 
strong that it may be said to have “enlarged and strength¬ 
ened flea muscles.” That animal is the burro or donkey— 
the patient beast of burden of the Southwest. 
This little animal has not received the credit due him. 
His share in the pioneer work of opening up the wild 
places of the West has been an important one. Without 
him many places that are now to be reached in comfort, 
would be still inaccessible. In building the new Pike’s 
Peak Railroad, all provisions, tools and outfits were car¬ 
ried on the backs of such little fellows as is shown at Fig. 
251. With a load such as we see packed on his back, he 
went plodding on day after day, never complaining or 
kicking, always good-natured and happy, doing his duty 
like the little veteran that he is. One great reason why 
the burro accomplishes something is that he knows how 
to obey! He doesn’t try to give orders or to “boss the 
job.” He just simply goes ahead and carries what they 
put on him, and devotes his whole attention to “ getting 
there” with it. If there were more men to imitate this 
method of doing business, the world would be better off. 
E RURAL NEW-YORKER 
always been considered a dull, stupid animal, suited only 
for use as a beast of burden. It was domesticated before 
the horse, but the care and selection needed for skillful 
breeding seem to have been largely expended on the latter 
to the neglect of the former. Since mule-breeding has 
become such a profitable industry, great pains have been 
taken to improve the ass and some of the best specimens 
to be found in Kentucky or Tennessee are large and hand¬ 
some as well as fierce and intelligent. The little burros 
of the Southwest owe their rough, stunted form and 
patient hardiness to neglect and lack of proper food. If 
they could be carefully selected and well fed they might be 
greatly improved in size and appearance though they would 
lose the rude chubbedness that makes them interesting to 
the stranger. Quite a large number of these useful little 
animals are brought East every year where they find 
ready sale for children’s riding or driving. 
HAY IN AN OREGON ORCHARD. 
A “ Big ” Apple Story. 
I have received the following letter from Wilson- 
ville, Ore.: 
“ I have been reading your communication in The 
Rural New-Yorker of August 29, and I write you for 
OCT. 3 
gests the “ fish story” element in such phenomenal yields. 
But I presume his letter is in good faith. 
If I had an orchard bearing in that way, I would raise 
my hay on another field. Timothy especially Is bad in an 
orchard. Clover resown every second or third year, and 
pastured not too close by sheep and swine, would be excel¬ 
lent. The clover and droppings would help to fertilize, 
and the sheep or swine would eat the wind-falls, worms 
and all. When the apples are large enough to eat, the 
live stock can be turned out of the orchard. That is the 
plan I hope to follow in my orchard soon now. The wheat 
in the photo engravings In The R. N.-Y. was sown simply 
to seed clover with it; but if this correspondent has de¬ 
termined to grow hay in them, then he should fertilize very 
heavily, or the apples will suffer. On my soil— rather a 
heavy, clayey loam—I use the best grade of ammoniated 
superphosphate with very excellent results on wheat and 
on the clover and Timothy that follow. I buy of the Cleve¬ 
land Dryer Company, Cleveland, O., because they are 
close by and reliable. There are many good and reliable 
firms. Boy only on guaranteed analysis, showing three to 
four per cent of ammonia (equivalent) and nine to twelve 
per cent of available phosphoric acid. Such goods will 
cost, cash, wholesale, at the factory from $25 to $28 
per ton. 
I do not say tile drain all land ; only soils and in cli- 
THE TOUGHEST ANIMAL IN THE WORLD, A MEXICAN BURRO. Fig. 251. 
This picture is engraved from a photograph and is abso¬ 
lutely true to life. Count the objects strapped on the 
burro’s back. He is but little larger than a big dog, and 
yet but few horses could carry that load up and down the 
steep mountain roads. This is a very common sight to 
those who are at all familiar with mining camps or West¬ 
ern mountains removed from railroads. The writer has 
frequently seen long lines of burros shambling along, 
one after the other, loaded with big sacks of ore or mer¬ 
chandise. They toil faithfully along day after day, stand¬ 
ing still or moving on, just as they are directed. On a 
hunting trip in the Rocky Mountains, we once took a 
burro along to carry the baggage and provisions. The 
whole thing made a bundle larger and heavier than he 
was himself, yet he moved on with it, nodding his head 
and shaking his ears with great satisfaction. When we 
stopped, he stopped, when we went on he followed. We 
were obliged to leave the horses far below the “timber 
line,” but when we began to climb up the blazed trail, the 
burro still followed, crawling and clambering up steep, 
rocky places, where it was necessary for us to climb on our 
bands and knees. At night we took his burden off and 
turned him loose to feed. He never tried to run away; 
in the morning he was always on hand. Frequently he 
would come close to the fire, and lie down near the rest of 
the party. Without intending any disrespect for the 
others, I will say that the burro was the most useful 
member of that company, and that we would have been 
sadly at a loss without his valuable society. The ass has 
advice. I am raising fruit exclusively, having about 3,000 
trees in all, mostly in bearing, and I want to raise hay in 
the orchards, and ask for your advice as to the fertilizer I 
should use, as I do not wish to draw any from the trees ; 
but want to apply all I draw for hay. The land is capable 
of sustaining the trees, yet I do not think it could stand 
both fruit and hay. Commercial fertilizers are unknown 
here and I know neither what to get nor where to 
get it. I expect you will say tile drain the orchards; but 
I cannot stand such a drain on the purse. By the way, 
why were no fruits shown in the cuts of your orchards in 
grain? Is it because the trees do not bear fruit or be¬ 
cause the latter do not appear in a photograph? I took as 
high as 85 bushels of apples off of one Baldwin tree three 
years ago, and many of my Rhode Island Greenings have 
borne 65 bushels each this year; but I do not think they 
will average more than 12 bushels apiece.” 
H. GOULDING. 
Well! This man doesn’t seem to me badly in need of 
advice except to “ let well enough alone.” In case of a 
man who can raise 85 bushels of Baldwins (over two 
tons) on a single tree, and 65 bushels of Rhode Island 
Greenings each from “many of his trees” this year, I 
would hardly venture to offer advice and would like to own 
a farm out there. The heaviest yield of apples ever taken 
from a tree on this farm was 48 bushels from a large old 
tree in my boyhood. My friend’s nearness to the great 
Columbia River so famous for its salmon fisheries to¬ 
gether with the largeness of his statements almost sug- 
mates where water stands stagnant in or even on the 
soil to the damage of tree or plant roots. Horace Greeley 
need to say, (if correctly reported) “ any soil that will pay 
to till will pay to tile." By no means. Many soils are 
naturally underdrained on account of their own porous 
nature and a gravelly or otherwise porous subsoil. They 
have no surplus water any more than prairie soils have 
stones and stumps. 
Fruit J oes not show on my trees (R. N.-Y., August 29) 
because the photographs were taken on June 5, when the 
apples (mostly winter sorts) were too small to show. We 
pick winter apples here in October. About one third or 
one quarter of my trees are heavily loaded with fine ap¬ 
ples in spite of the heavy frost of May 17, which destroyed 
most of the fruit in this region. High ground, dense 
foliage, largeness of the orchard and large forest to 
the north combined to save mine—not luck, but well- 
known meteorological and physical conditions. Pruning 
the trees, manuring and cultivating the ground and spray¬ 
ing the fruit have combined to make the apples large, fair 
and quite free from worms. The trees, many of them, 
have all they can possibly bear up under, and some need 
propping. But though some of them are over a foot in 
diameter, none of them is likely to yield 85 or even 65 
bushels. If you throw off 15 from 65 and divide by two, 
some of my trees may reach the figure. I must move to 
Oregon I 
Can any one beat this correspondent’s record ? 
Summit Co., Ohio. w. I. chamberlain. 
