6i4 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
September 29 
February, but this is too early; when limbs are cut 
oft then, the wounds do not heal readily. Perhaps, 
ordinarily, March or April would be as convenient a 
time as any, and the trees will do well pruned then. 
The trees will sucker less if pruned later.” 
” Do you practice summer prunlnpf or shortening in 
the new growth ? ” 
“ The summer pruning we do is to rub off suckers 
that appear ; we never shorten in any of the trees.” 
“ How long will a peach orchard ordinarily last ?” 
“ It depends considerably upon circumstances. I 
have taken them out when they are 12 years old from 
the time of setting, and many of the trees were good 
yet.” 
” How long a time must elapse after one orchard is 
taken out before you put another on the same land ? ” 
“ I don’t think a very long time is necessary.” 
How do you manage the borers ? ” 
“Sometimes we dig them out, and sometimes we 
don’t bother with them.” 
“ Any yellows ? ” 
“ I don’t know whether there is any such thing as 
yellows. Occasionally a tree gets sickly and dies, but 
I never bother much about them.” 
Picking Advantages of a Sorter. 
At the time of my visit, all the Crawfords and best 
peaches had been picked, as they had ripened up this 
year much earlier than common. Several pick¬ 
ers were finishing up scattering trees of different 
varieties here and there. About all that were left 
that were not yet ready to pick, were the Smocks. 
The larger part of the peaches were picked by the 
men standing on the ground ; to reach the rest ordi¬ 
nary step ladders were used. Each man is provided 
with a broad leather strap passing over one shoulder, 
around the back and under the other arm ; on each 
end of this strap are hooks to fasten into the basket, 
the ordinary half-bushel peach basket. Each picker 
also has a hook made out of a crotched brauch of a 
tree, with which he reaches up and pulls down the 
limbs which are beyond his reach. Thus equipped, a 
man can do quite rapid work. The baskets are dis¬ 
tributed around the orchard from a wagon, and the 
peaches gathered up in the same way. Then they are 
taken to the big barn floor which is utilized as a pack¬ 
ing house. Here, after the half day’s picking is accu¬ 
mulated, they are assorted by means of a sorter. Four 
sizes were made of the fruit at the time of my visit. 
The sorter can be changed somewhat to vary the size 
as desired. The first or smallest size that went out 
were so small that they would not be shipped to the 
market. The others were marked according to the 
grading. The sorter is worked by a treadle. The 
operator sits close to one side of the machine; 
one man empties the peaches into the hopper above 
him, and, as he passes them along in the sorter, he 
picks out any that may be too soft or specked in any 
way. Then there is an< ther man at each of the 
baskets containing the other grades, who looks them 
over carefully as they come into the basket to detect 
any other specked ones that may have passed the first 
man. These men fill the baskets properly and supply 
the empty baskets when others are filled. 
“ Do you prefer this method of sorting and grading 
to hand work ? ” I asked. 
“Certainly. It is far ahead of hand work. If any 
one works at this business of grading all day, before 
it comes night, he will find that the peaches all look 
the same size. In the use of the machine, the peaches 
are all of uniform size from top to bottom; the ma¬ 
chine doesn’t put the best peaches on top as some 
people do. With it, and everything favorable, we can 
run through 120 baskets of peaches per hour.” 
Markets : Best Thing About the Business. 
“ Where is your principal market for peaches ?” 
“ New York is the best. We ship a good many into 
the coal regions, but our main market is New York. 
Each basket is covered with canvas. I have shipped 
sometimes without covers, but I do not like this way; 
they spill out in the car and there is a great loss. I 
have shipped to one firm in New York for 10 years, 
and always get good prices. After a firm gets a trade 
on a certain brand of peaches, they seem to like to 
hold it. I tried shipping a few lots to another firm 
this summer, dividing up the shipments bet ween the 
two firms as nearly as possible, and the old firm got 
from 10 to 25 cents per basket more than the other. 
The peaches are picked in the forenoon, are assorted 
after dinner, put on the car in the afternoon, and are 
in the New York market the next morning.” 
I stated before that little grain was grown and not 
much stock kept, the latter comprising a couple of 
cows, a mule team, and two horse teams. There is a 
vegetable and fruit garden, laid out in long rows, so 
as to be conveniently worked with a cultivator. But 
few apples aud other fruits are grown, peaches being 
the main crop. 
Mr. Dawes has been testing Crimson clover for the 
paet two years, thjs ye%r raised 37 bushels of seed. 
He is very much pleased with it, and thinks it a great 
thing for the peach orchards. He had one piece ready 
to sow at the time of my visit, which had been fitted 
for some time, but had not been sown on account of 
the dry weather previously prevailing. He intended 
sowing it, however, as a fiue rain had brought the soil 
into good condition. He also has a small piece of Al¬ 
falfa The latter has been very satisfactory, aud has 
been mown twice this year, but the extreme dry 
weather seems to have been very unfavorable for it. 
Farmers generally hesitate about putting all or 
most of their eggs into one basket, but if one is sure 
of the basket, it may be safe enough to do it. The 
peach business, as carried on here, certainly seems to 
warrant it. The advantage of one, or very few crops, 
is that everything can be given proper attention when 
needed, and Mr. Dawes remarked that in raising pota¬ 
toes or corn, they usually needed attention at the 
same time as the peaches, and one or the other is 
likely to suffer. With only the one crop, the best at¬ 
tention can be paid to this, and the best results at¬ 
tained. Peaches certainly seem to be profitable here, 
although the prices of the past four or fi7e years have 
been much lower than formerly—perhaps no lower 
than other farm crops. The greatest item of cost is 
the help that must be hired. On this farm two men 
are hired by the year, and others as needed during 
the picking. It is difficult to get good careful help. 
From the back part of the farm, a magnificent view 
is obtained. Occasional springs give the purest and 
best of water, while the bracing air is itself an in¬ 
spiration. Ample and well-arranged barns and out¬ 
buildings shelter the stock, tools and products. Inside 
the house are books and papers, music and pictures, 
and that subtle home atmosphere that makes hone 
the dearest spot on earth. It must be a strangely 
constituted boy or girl who would wish to leave such 
a cosy home-nest for the uncertainties of the great 
world outside. Thrice blessed is the man who, with 
contented mind, enjoys the felicities of such a 
home. F. H V. 
LARGE LITTERS OF PIGS. 
GET RID OF UNPRODUCTIVE SOWS. 
Wbat Is the proper treatment for breeUlnx bOKS In order to have the 
sows drop large litters? I bad onlf 21 pigs this summer from six sows, 
and last year was but little better. I have bad no large litters for 
years. They have been fed corn principally, but allowed to ruu to 
grass a great deal and fed some apples, small potatoes, bran and 
milk, and they are kept fatter than most of the neighbors keep theirs, 
but not so fat as to prevent them from being good mothers. 
Barboursvllle, Va. A. B. L. 
May Be an Old Boar. 
We do not see but A. R L’s treatment is all right. 
Small litters may be the result of breeding from an old 
boar that has become weak, or it may run in that par¬ 
ticular strain. He might find a remedy in using a 
young, vigorous boar, and try his boar on a different 
strain sow. We think that would surely remedy the 
trouble and show him where the fault is. Our litters 
have been running from 8 to 16, and they averaged 
most when the boar was not over 23^ years old. 
Chittenango, N. Y. f. h gates. 
An TJnproliflc Strain of Sows. 
Breeding swine should not be kept too fat, especially 
at breeding time. It may be a characteristic of the 
breed or strain of swine kept by A. R. L., Barbours- 
ville, Va., to have but few pigs at each litter; or, per¬ 
haps, he has not been particular to get breeders from 
prolific sows. As his litters are smaller than last year, 
perhaps from inbreeding or some other cause, his hogs 
have outlived their usefulness as breeders. Some 
breeds, and even some strains of breeds, are very much 
more prolific than others. 
My experience has been with Berkshires, and I aim 
to keep them in a good, thrifty condition, fleshy but 
not too fat. I feed but little corn, feed oats, rye, bran, 
etc., with pasture to run in. I also give them plenty 
of exercise in winter. Breeding swine should be se¬ 
lected from prolific, mature stock, and sows should not 
be bred to farrow under one year old. My sows gen¬ 
erally have but one service of the boar, and have had 
from eight to fourteen pigs each in their spring litters 
this year. One of my Berkshire sows has had 60 pigs 
in five litters ; another has had 45 in five litters. My 
young sows averaged nine pigs each last spring. I 
kept a Berkshire boar for service of sows outside of 
my own herd, and from 176 sows had 1,611 pigs, an 
average of over nine pigs in each litter. 
I think if A. R L. would get breeders from m iture 
stock of any of the pure breeds that suit him best, feed 
less corn and more of the other feeds mentioned by 
him, that he would be better satisfied with the results. 
Mannsville, N. Y. geo. staplin, jr. 
Get New Sows ; Feed Less Corn. 
This herd has had improper treatment, or else they 
are of an unprolific fami.y. The general advice in 
selecting breeding stock, is to se ect from prolific 
families, from sows that produce large litters, and 
Irom juries pajrailts notid for thejr 
tendencies. If none of his sows produces large litters, 
he is in bad shape to make a selection that will help 
him out of his trouble. Another trouble may be in- 
and-in breeding, for if he has bought males of other 
families, certainly he should have had better success 
sometimes. 
My method, if I found myself as he is situated, would 
be to know first, whether my treatment, feeding, etc., 
is correct. If such is the case, then I would give my 
attention to the stock, selection of sows and boars. 
Then I would get a new set of sows and buy of a man 
that is known to be successful as a swine grower and 
start out in a new line of care. He can doubtless buy 
young sows of good quality of mixed breeding in his 
own neighborhood that will not cost too much. When 
he has these, then buy a purebred boar, of known 
prolific family. The boar being purely bred, he cau 
count on the pigs being of goo i quality as pork makers. 
His skill as a feeder should be shown in the number 
of pigs they will produce. The boar should be fed a 
mixed ration, such as will keep him in fine health and 
condition. Corn should be the smallest part of the 
ration. He should be kept alone in a grass paddock 
of sufficient size. Skim-milk should form a part of 
his ration, bran and middlings, one part of each by 
weight, mixed with milk or other slop that may be 
fed to him. Or, with less care, he may be kept on a 
ration of whole wheat scattered thinly on the sod— 
that he be compelled to eat slowly and masticate 
thoroughly. 
The sows should, if possible, have a pasture range at 
all times, and p’enty of pure water. If they can have 
a woods range, and the freedom of their noses, all the 
better; then with a little grain rich in albuminoids, 
they should deve’oo well and drop large litters. It is 
my practice to feed more or less middlings and bran 
all the year. If my sows are in farrow and have good 
clover pasture, they ha^'e no grain or other feed unless 
they are thinner in fle>h than I wish. I like to have 
them come to the farrowing nest in good flesh. My 
sows have been in the rye field for 70 days, where 
they have rye, young clover and volunteer rye, and 
they a^e not getting too fat. I expect them to do well 
as they have done heretofore. 
My impression is that A. R. L has been too strong 
a corn feeder. Corn is good to fiuish up with for mar¬ 
ket, but not good as the principal part of the ration 
for brood sows. Wheat, or some of its parts, is much 
better. If fed to breeding stock, I would not soak or 
grind it, but manage some way to secure slow eating 
and perfect mastication. If bran or other parts of 
wheat are fed, pour in the trough and pour water or 
slop over it to dampen and prevent waste, as they will 
waste dry feed. This way of slopping does away with 
the slop barrel and saves time and labor. This is a 
general outline of my treatment, and the sto'^y of my 
success is like this: Five sows, now six and seven years 
old, have brought at four farrowings, in all 20 litters, 
198 pigs, and 161 of these lived to be marketed. If pos¬ 
sible, I expect them to do better at next farrowing 
during the next 30 or 40 days. In my treatment of 
breeding stock and young growing animals, I have got 
away from corn feeding as much as possible. 
Ross County, O. john m. jamison. 
Biules for the Care of Pigs. 
The question of proper treatment of hogs in order 
to have them produce large litters, is one of interest 
to every breeder; and although A. R. L. may be al¬ 
ready familiar with the following points, I send them 
as having been useful in my experience. Both boar 
and sow, at the time of service, should be in a healthy, 
thriving condition, and of medium flesh. To secure 
this condition, they should have plenty of exercise, 
a good dry bed and wholesome food; selected for 
growth and development rather than fat. I would 
not use corn in feeding a breeding herd, to any ex¬ 
tent. I consider that success depends, in a great 
measure, upon the management of the boar. He 
should not be allowed to run with the sows at will, 
but should have a separate pen and yard, and be 
taken out only when needed. Sows are surer to prove 
in pig, and also to raise larger and stronger litters, if 
mated in from three to five days after weaning their 
pigs. Then, too, if sows are taken to a distance, I 
consider it better not to bring them home at once, 
but to leave them in a quiet pen at least 12 hours. 
The rest and quiet are of great advantage. 
Peruville, N. Y._ kd. s. hill. 
Meat in a Well —Having neither ice-house nor 
refrigerator, we have used the old-fashioned way of 
keeping meat fresh by hanging it in a pail in the well. 
It seems as though some of your readers, with an in¬ 
ventive turn of mind, could devise some easier method 
—that would be cheap, yet efficient—of using the 
great difference of temperature between the surface 
and 15 feet down the well, besides that of hanging a 
pail at the end of a rope. Will some reader please 
reply? p. j. p, 
t^ichipgpd, ^icli. 
