1895 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
647 
draining might be of benefit. The stream of water 
may be drawing on some stimulating material not 
mentioned. The orchard is, without doubt, over- 
stimulated from some source. I have had an experi¬ 
ence somewhat similar in fruit growing. I could get 
plants of three times their usual size, but no fruit. 
Don’t you think that this is a law- of nature ? Stop 
manuring, root prune, underdrain, seed to grass, thin, 
are the remedies I would advise, and about” in the 
order named, as necessity might require. 
Illinois. wm. jackson. 
GNAWING ORCHARD TREES. 
UOW TO PREVENT IT. 
Sheep commence to eat the bark from apple trees 
of 20 years’ growth, for one of two reasons; but 
when once they get the taste of the bark, they like it, 
and then will continue to gnaw it for the sake of the 
bark to eat. At the beginning they will eat the bark 
to get moisture, if not sufficiently supplied with 
water ; or, if scrimped for food, they will eat the bark. 
But as J. W. O., page 538, when pasturing sheep in 
his orchard, feeds them oats and corn ground to fat¬ 
ten them, he probably does not scrimp them for food, 
and the most likely reason for their first learning to 
eat the bark, is the want of water. Few persons have 
an idea of the amount of water a sheep will drink 
when fresh water is within reach, and so sheep are 
often compelled to exist on what little water they can 
gather when eating when the dew is on, or the past¬ 
ure wet with rain. 
This is bad enough 
when running in 
open pasture, but 
much worse when 
in the orchard, as 
the trees keep 
most of the dew 
from the grass, 
and the sheep 
must eat the bark, 
or choke with 
thirst. 
First, then, any 
one who would 
keep sheep in the 
orchard should see 
to it that an abun¬ 
dant supply of 
fresh water is 
readily accessible. 
Then give plenty 
of food, of which 
bran is best of all 
as it supplies most 
fertility for the 
trees, and contains 
plenty of nitrog¬ 
enous matter, for 
the sheep. 
But J. W. O. can 
easily protect his 
trees so that the 
sheep would 
starve to death 
before they could 
get at them. For 
this purpose, he can use common wire netting, 
which may be had by the roll at half a cent or 
less per square foot, so that four feet wide, which 
is wide enough to protect against any breed of sheep, 
will cost only two cents a running foot ; and as 30 
inches in length will go around any 20 or 30-year-old 
tree, five cents will be all the netting will cost. A 
man can put on several hundred a day, as all he has 
to do is to cut to the right length, wrap it about the 
trees, twist four or five of the ends together, and 
they will protect the trees until they outgrow the 
wire. The annual cost of this protection, including 
the cost of material, labor of putting on, and eight 
per cent interest for the outlay, will not be over half 
a cent per tree, and the sheep will not even rub against 
the trees when so protected. 
Another protector may be made by getting the com¬ 
mon, wire picket fence, and cutting it into pieces long 
enough to go around the trees ; but for the same 
length, this will cost fully as much as the wire netting, 
and I don’t like it so well, as it shades the bodies too 
much for our climate. Perhaps in the West, where 
trees are subject to sun-scald, the laths of which this 
is made, by the shade given, would prevent this 
trouble. 
On again reading J. W. O.’s. letter, I notice that his 
practice was probably to feed his sheep in the orchard 
during winter, and there may have been another lack 
in food which set the sheep at the trees—lack of 
succulence. But in any case, the protectors will keep 
the sheep from injuring the trees. 
Of course they will eat every limb as high as they 
can reach, whether kept in the orchard winter or 
summer ; but I have never noticed that any injury re¬ 
sulted from this ; neither do I think there will be any 
less barrels of apples at picking time by reason, of 
what the sheep may have taken. The absence of 
worms, caused by the sheep eating all the falling 
apples containing the first brood, and the increased 
growth of what fruit is left on the trees by reason of 
the extra manuring the trees will get, will much more 
than compensate for what would have been on the 
lower limbs had not the sheep eaten them. 
Another year’s observation has more strongly con¬ 
vinced me that the best of all treatments to give an 
apple orchard, is greatly to overstock it with sheep, 
and feed them enough food to keep them thriving. 
_J. s. WOODWARD. 
" A GEORGIA PEACH.’’ 
UOW IT IS PLANTED, PROTECTED, PICKED AND PACKED. 
[editorial correspondence.] 
Part IV. 
The Shipping of a Peach. 
When we left our Georgia peach, it had been packed 
into a basket and crate, carefully nailed up and 
marked with the name of the variety. The larger 
sizes arc marked “ X.” A Massachusetts fruit dealer 
told me that no peaches reached New England in 
such good condition as did this fruit from Fort Valley. 
Mr. Hale’s reason is that the fruit is put into the iced 
car a few hours after it is picked from the tree, and is 
not taken from the ice until sold. We have seen how 
quickly the peaches are pushed through the packing 
shed. The full crates are kept in the shade until put 
into the big wagon for carriage to the railroad. There 
are 19 of the big wagons like the one already pictured. 
Each one is covered with a canvas hood so that the 
peaches are shaded all the way. Many wagons from 
other orchards went over the same road without any 
covering—with the fruit exposed to the burning sun. 
The effect could not have been other than injurious. 
Mr. Hale believes that at least 10 per cent of the value 
of the peaches is lost by the exposure to heat and 
dust on this road journey. The hot sun is no place 
for a peach after it has been picked from the tree. 
On arrival at the station, the crates are at once 
packed into refrigerator cars. Fig. 206 shows the work¬ 
men busy filling one of these cars with ice. Artificial 
ice is used—made in a local factory. The crates are 
packed in such a way that there is a circulation of 
cold air completely around each one. The cars are 
kept iced all the way through to the North, and are 
started on their journey as fast as they are filled. 
The Ilales have an agent constantly at the station 
who records each load as it arrives, watches it into 
the car, and is able to tell just what each car contains, 
not only as to number of crates, but the varieties as 
well. Car-load lots were shipped this season to New 
York, Philadelphia, Boston, Worcester, Mass., and 
Hartford, Conn. An agent at each of these points 
has charge of the distribution in his locality. The 
agents at Hartford determine the route of all cars 
north of Alexandria, Va. The moment the cars leave 
Fort Valley, these Hartford agents are informed by 
telegraph just what the load comprises. They keep 
informed as to the market conditions at the different 
points, and when the cars reach Alexandria, directions 
for shipment are waiting. For example, the New 
York market may be crowded with peaches, or the 
weather may be bad, while reports from Boston are 
that peaches are needed there. In that case, instead 
of running two cars to New York, only one will be 
sent, or that market may be skipped entirely for the 
day. By means of this complete system, the peaches 
are accurately distributed, and rarely fail to find a 
good market and fair prices, It is easy to see that, if 
they were sent at haphazard, even though they were 
shipped in perfect condition, some car-loads would 
reach the market at such a time that their low price 
would eat up all the profit obtained on better days. 
Where peaches are grown so far away from market, 
every known device must be employed to bring them 
to the iced car in perfect condition. After all, that is 
but half of the matter, for the whole profit might 
even then be lost by poor selling. 
At the time of my visit, a meeting of fruit and truck 
growers was being held in Atlanta, in the hope of in¬ 
ducing the railroads to reduce rates on transporta¬ 
tion. I asked Mr. Hale what he thought of this 
matter. 
He said: “As the extent of the orchards and the 
output increases, the railroads will be able to give it 
even better attention than now. At the present time 
the rates of $175 per car to New York, and $90 more 
for refrigeration, are altogether too high, and it must, 
and pi'obably will, be lower as the volume of trade 
increases. Many 
orchardists are 
now demanding 
lower l’ates, but in 
all my talks with 
the railroad men 
for some years, I 
have been urging 
the best service 
first, and lower 
l'ates later on as 
they can be given 
consistently with 
the highest serv¬ 
ice.” 
It must have 
cost the Ilales over 
$20,000 for rai I- 
road service and 
icing this season 
alone. That seems 
like an enormous 
slice to take out 
of one year’s pro¬ 
ceeds, simply to 
reach a market. 
A good share of 
this goes for the 
ice and cost of 
carrying the same. 
I asked Mr. Hale 
what he thought 
about the “sterili¬ 
zed air ” process. 
“For two or 
three years,” he 
said, “ I have been 
watching the pi'ogress of the sterilized air process of 
fruit transportation, and am satisfied that it will not 
only preserve fruit better than refrigeration, but can 
also be furnished at much less cost, and also save the 
l'ailroad from hauling the heavy x'efrigerator cars. I 
believe that within a very few years’ time, sterilized 
air will entirely supersede the present refrigerator 
methods and, therefore, l'educe the considerable cost 
of reaching the markets.” 
We have now had a general outline of the way this 
great business is conducted. It is a wholesale busi¬ 
ness and many of the trade economies mentioned here 
could not be practiced by a man with a small farm. 
A certain volume of business must be guaranteed be¬ 
fore the raili'oads will provide satisfactory shipping 
facilities. In answer to my question as to what there 
was about his enterprise for a 50-acre farmer to learn, 
Mi\ Hale said : 
“ I hardly know how to answer this question, as I 
have not been thinking or working on that plan ; but 
from my point of view, it seems that there is vei'y little 
chance here for the small farmer, but a wonderful 
chance for lai'ge individual or co-operative enter prison. ’ ’ 
We shall see what others have to say about that as 
we go on. “ Wherein is Georgia peach growing 
superior to Connecticut? If you could gi'ow peaches 
in but one place, which would you prefer ?” wei-e my 
next questions. 
“In ease of culture and cheapness of labor, and 
opportunities to work throughout the whole year, the 
South is supei’ior ; still I prefer Connecticut owing to 
its accessibility to the best markets of the country, 
and, because the fruit ripens after it is gone from all 
