1893 
397 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
with talent and ability to succeed in the business ; 
men used to hard work and little money ; to early and 
long hours; men who know the rough road a farmer 
has to travel and who would he willing to return 
empties where they belong, instead of giving them 
away to those who only use them for kindling wood. 
Parry, N. J. c. p. 
[Every query must be accompanied by the name and address of the 
writer to Insure attention. Before asking a question please see If It 1® 
not answered In our advertising columns. Ask only a few questions at 
one time. Put questions on a separate piece of paper.] 
NEED APPLE TREES TAKE A YEAR OFF ? 
THE QUESTIONS. 
We often see It stated that the "off year ” In apple orchards may be 
prevented by feeding the trees. In other words, the Orel ards manured 
or fertilized every year are said to yield well year after year without 
amiss. Have you found this to be true to any extent? Are any 
var etles of apples better suited than others to give yearly vrops? 
How can apple trees that tear every other year be changed so that 
we can have some of the same variety each year ? We have an excel¬ 
lent early variety, the trees of which are covered with blossoms. 
There will be more apples than we can make use of or dispose of. I 
would like to get half of the trees to bear tnls year and the others next? 
Carefully and thoroughly prune the trees, whose 
season of fruiting it is desired to change; doing so in 
late winter or early spring. As soon as practicable, 
after the development of the clusters of blossoms, 
(better even before the blossoms open) destroy the en¬ 
tire bloom of the season; preserving the fruit spurs. 
The effect will be to direct the energies of the tree to 
the production of a new crop of fruit during what 
would otherwise have been the “ rest year.” The re¬ 
sult of such a process will doubtless prove more sat¬ 
isfactory upon comparatively young trees; since old 
trees will be found to yield their accustomed habits 
less readily. There will doubtless be a tendency, 
especially in older trees, to revert to their original 
habit of bearing, requiring watchfulness, and per¬ 
chance a repetition of the process described, to insure 
the continuance of the new conditions. Yet another 
method of securing the desired result consists in a 
high manuring and cultivation of the soil, using such 
special fertilizers as tend to the production of fruit 
rather than wood growth; such as shall so invigorate 
the tree that it will prove capable of developing both 
fruit and a new crop of fruit buds during a single 
season—a process which will be still farther facilitated 
by the judieious thinning of the growing crop of fruit. 
That this latter process would result in the earlier 
exhaustion or wearing out of trees so treated, may be 
reasonably anticipated. t. t. lyon 
When a fruit tree bears an enormous crop, it is in too 
feeble a condition to form many fruit buds for the next 
season, and, if unfavorable weather should continue 
through the pollenization period, the tree will set no 
fruit. This is called the “ off year.” When a fruit tree 
bears a fair crop, or the fruit is thinned out to a fair crop, 
and the tree is properly nourished in the “ off year,” 
unfavorable weather, injurious insects and fungous 
diseases often destroy a crop even when well nour¬ 
ished. Some varieties bear very regularly, k. hicks. 
In my experience high cultivation and extra fertil¬ 
izing promote the growth of wood, but, as a rule, do 
not change the habit of bearing. For instance, the 
Baldwin blooms and bears biennially, and I have failed 
to observe any change from the rule. Some part of a 
tree may bear one year and the other next. I have 
known the Greening to bear, also the Twenty Ounce, 
two years in succession, partial crops. My observa¬ 
tion has led me to the conclusion that when an orchard 
has borne a full crop of fruit of fine quality, by one of 
Nature’s laws it demands rest. Some deviation, how¬ 
ever, from the general rule may occur. There may 
be varieties that will produce yearly crops, but they 
are unknown to me. E. b. nobbis. 
I have an orchard 40 years old in which there are no 
“off years.” It has been fertilized annually. There 
is a difference in varieties, also in individual trees of 
the same variety. g. s. butleb. 
Connecticut. 
Manuring and Spraying Will Help. 
That orchards can be made quite uniform in bear¬ 
ing by annual applications of fertilizers there is no 
doubt. When not specially fertilized, the trees are 
not able to bear fruit and perfect fruit buds the same 
year, hence they bear freely one year, then on the off 
year they bear no fruit but perfect fruit buds for a 
crop the next year. I have been fertilizing one or¬ 
chard annually for several years, and I now obtain 
nearly the same number of barrels of fruit every year. 
For three years consecutively I have had a large crop 
of Spitzenburghs from the same trees, but in addition 
to a heavy application of stable manure and wood 
ashes, the trees have been sprayed with the Bordeaux» 
Mixture and with Paris-green. If the foliage is se¬ 
riously injured by any fungus, or by insects, regular 
crops of fruit cannot be secured. Varieties that are 
inclined to overbear, like the Baldwin, Lady Sweet 
and others, can not be kept so uniform in yearly pro¬ 
duction. Perfect foliage is an important factor in 
enabling a tree to perform its full functions, and apple 
scab fungus and insects have had quite as much to do 
with the irregular bearing of trees as has lack of fer¬ 
tility. geo. t. poweli.. 
Much Depends on the Variety. 
To fertilize an orchard is a good thing to do ; but it 
should be done in the spring, so that the manure will 
rot down and mice won’t work at the trees in winter. 
Some kinds of apples fruit every year, but the trees 
are shorter-lived than those that do not do so. In my 
experience the following varieties are more likely to 
bear every year than any other I know of. Hubbards- 
ton Nonsuch, Sweet Bough, Long Island Sweet Rus- 
sett, Red Astrachan, Gilliflower, Twenty Ounce, 
Talpahocken, Red Streak and Duchess of Oldenburgh. 
Another good thing to do is to graft some trees in dif¬ 
ferent varieties. But, on the whole, one cannot make 
a tree bear every year in succession, but it will some¬ 
times if the season is favorable. I have known Bald¬ 
wins to fruit every year, but l hey were small and of 
inferior quality and not salable. A. g. gbaham. 
Can the “ Off Year ,f be Prevented ? 
My experience leads me to the conclusion that even 
with the best care and culture crops of tree fruits will 
not be uniform, though the free use of insecticides 
and fungicides will often aid in securing a crop where 
otherwise there would have been a failure. Yet some 
seasons are so very unfavorable—1890 being a marked 
instance—that, though it was a “ bearing year,” the 
crop was an almost total failure, and 1892 gave a short 
crop. The effects of this forced change will probably 
be seen for a good while in a greater uniformity of 
yield. Nevertheless, heavy-bearing sorts will more or 
less exhaust themselves, even under good culture and 
manuring; and there will be years, tending to become 
alternate, when there will be more wood growth than 
fruiting. I do not look upon this as wholly an objec¬ 
tionable thing. Without vigor in the tree, there will 
not long be crops of good fruit; and it is practically im¬ 
possible to force profusely bearing varieties to become 
annual bearers without weakening the vitality of the 
trees and shortening their lives. If we could be as¬ 
sured of prices that would justify hand thinning, 
there would be much less difficulty in securing annual 
crops in a well managed orchard. But even when we 
have thus secured comparative evenness, everything 
will be at time® thrown out of gear by the destruction 
of a crop from climatic causes, such as continued rains 
during blooming, untimely frosts, the inroads of new 
sorts of destructive insects or fungi; so that a crop 
will be destroyed, and uniformity disturbed for sev¬ 
eral successive years. But good care will give us 
more and better fruit in nearly every year; and where 
this is practiced, it will often occur that a moderate 
crop on the odd year, or every year, will bring more 
money than alternate years of full but inferior crops. 
If we could get English prices for our apples, we 
could afford to lay out a good deal more labor upon 
^ em - t. h. HOSKINS. 
A Snoring; Jersey; Is It Consumption? 
T. B. P., Goldsboro, N. G. —1, I have a Jersey cow 
four years old that dropped twin heifer calves about 
three months since. A month ago I had her served, 
but she came in heat again in a week. In two weeks 
she was served a second time and has been in heat 
every day since—about a week. Her body is drawn 
up until she looks like a race horse that has just come 
out of a race; her rump is sunk in on each side of her 
tail and she has an excited appearance all the while. 
I think she has nymphomania, or some other sort of 
mania that I am tired of. I keep her as much as pos¬ 
sible away from my other cows, both for her sake and 
theirs. 2 . I have another Jersey of the same age that 
snores like a man asleep nearly all the time. She 
seems all right in every particular except this snoring. 
When chewing her cud she does not snore, and it seems 
worse when milking her. How can I relieve her? 3. 
I have also a Holstein cow whose hoofs have grown 
very long, and she walks badly and continually steps 
or rather rests on one and then the other foot, when 
milking her. The hoofs turn up somewhat at the 
ends. I have been thinking of cutting them off but 
don’t know whether to do so or not. They are six or 
eight inches long. What would you advise? 
Ans. —1. I suspect both of the Jersey cows have 
tuberculosis, although the condition in either case 
might be due to local trouble of another nature. Not 
infrequently tubercular lesions of the abdomen, espec¬ 
ially if around or within the ovaries or uterus, cause 
the animal to be continually in heat, when they are 
commonly called “ bullers.” The general condition 
of this case also indicates some chronic disease like 
tuberculosis. 2. Tbe snoring in the other case is 
probably due to the tubercular enlargement of one or 
more of the lymphatic glands about the throat, which 
causes it to encroach on the air passage and prevents 
the free r-assage of the air in respiration. If possible, 
have both cases examined by a competent veterinary 
surgeon. 3. The hoofs of the Holstein cow should be 
cut down to as nearly the normal shape as the present 
condition of her feet will admit, and then retrimmed 
every three or four months, or as often as necessary 
to keep them from becoming overgrown and distorted. 
Round Worms in Sheep. 
F. P. D., Enqlishtown, N. J.— In The Rubal of May 
13 I saw an account of J. G. L.’s sheep being sick, and 
the answer says to look for tapeworms. This spring 
I bought 31 sheep, and they were affected in the same 
way in which J. G. L.’s were. They were South Downs 
and Shropshires, and I lost 13 and the others are not 
well. I looked for tapeworms, but there were none. 
But the intestines were just filled with tubercles or 
small tumors, and an M. D. looked at them and said 
they looked just the same as the intestines of a person 
afflicted with bowel consumption. Is there any cure, 
and what is the name of the disease ? Is it contagious ? 
Ans.—I n the answer to J. G. L. you were directed to 
look for round worms as well as tapeworms. The 
small tumors in the intestines of your sheep are due 
to the presence of the embryos of a small round worm, 
the (Esophagostoma columbianum, and not to tuber¬ 
culosis or consumption. The adult worm is about 
three-fourths to one inch in length and lives in the 
large intestines, where you would probably have 
found it in considerable numbers if you had exam¬ 
ined the intestines closely. There is no treatment for 
the tumors. F or the adult worms try the treatment 
as given in answer to J. G. L. db. f. l. kilbobne. 
A Tile Talk ; Mammoth Clover. 
B. B. J., Hartland, 0. —1. In tiling sloping land, which 
way should I run the drains, with the slope, diagonally 
or directly across ? How deep should I put the tiles 
in clay land that is mixed with fine gravel, the soil 
averaging about 10 inches in depth, subsoil clay ? How 
far apart should the drains be ? 2. When and how 
often would it be advisable to cut back Mammoth 
clover to produce a crop of seed, not wishing to pasture 
the field ? 
Ans. 1* ft is bestjto have the drains run straight down 
the slope, as the more fall there is, the less sediment 
will be left in the tiles when the flow is the least. The 
normal depth of tile dra'ns is three feet, and the dis¬ 
tance apart is 40 •feet. There is no necessity for going 
below this depth, and a foot deeper will add nearly 
one-half to the cost of making the drains. In the kind 
of soil described, it is quite possible, and indeed prob¬ 
able, that 2% feet will be quite deep enough. 2. Mam¬ 
moth clover cannot be managed in the way suggested. 
It makes but one growth, and must be cut for seed, if 
this is desired, when the growth is mature, which is 
generally in July. There will be no blossom or seed 
in the second growth. If this kind of clover is grown 
with Timothy the two will ripen seed at the same time. 
h. s. 
Right to a Spring; on Another's Land by Prescription. 
L. T. H., Herkimer County, N. Y—On my farm there 
is a spring of fine water, and for the last 50 years or 
thereabouts the water has been drawn off by means 
of a lead pipe to supply the needs of an adjoining farm, 
the owner of which has no deed, lease or contract to 
show any conveyance of the spring. What title has 
he to it, and does the law give him the right to come 
on my land and repair the old pipe or lay a new one ? 
Have I a right to lay a pipe to it to supply water to 
my stock ? 
Ans.—W hen a person has enjoyed the use of an¬ 
other s iand in the way described for a long period 
(20 years is enough under the statutes of most of the 
States) the courts proceed on the fiction that he has 
done so under a deed which has been lost. Accord¬ 
ingly he has all the rights which he would have under 
a deed granting him just such an interest in the land 
as he has been enjoying. Every grant carries with it 
whatever is directly necessary to its enjoyment. Hence 
a person who has been drawing water through pipes 
from another’s spring under an actual or assumed 
grant, is entitled to enter on the other’s land, having 
first given the owner reasonable notice, whenever it is 
necessary to repair or renew the pipeB ; but he cannot 
in the future use any more of the water than he has 
been accustomed to use in the past. Thus in the pres¬ 
ent case, the neighbor, having duly notified L. T. H., 
is entitled to go upon his land and repair or renew 
the pipes, doing no unnecessary damage and leaving 
the land as nearly as possible in the condition he found 
it, but he cannot put in pipes larger than those which 
have all ale ng been in use. On his part, L. T. H. may 
use the spring in any way consistent with the supposi¬ 
titious grant. Whatever water issues from it over and 
above the quantity usually drawn hy his neighbor may 
rightfully be used by him, but no more. 
