The  Rural  New-Yorker 
The  Business  Farmer’s  Paper 
Vol.  I,XXV.  NEW  YORK,  JANUARY  15,  1916.  No.  4361. 
A  Central  New  York  Fruit  and  Alfalfa 
Farm 
Alfalfa  Makes  the  Garden  Spot 
RCHART >  BEGINNINGS. — About  25  years  ago 
Willis  A.  I’arsons  removed  from  Camillas  to 
Geckles.  adjoining  Syracuse,  N.  Y.,  where  he  had 
bought  the  farm  on  which  he  now  resides.  lie  in¬ 
tended  to  grow  Alfalfa,  keep  a  dairy  herd,  and  ship 
milk  to  city  markets.  In  the  orchard  on  this  farm 
there  were  about  40  apple  trees  and  an  equal  num¬ 
ber  of  cherry  trees,  most  of  which  were  in  hearing, 
and  a  few  trees  of  other  kinds  of  fruit.  Soon  after  tak¬ 
ing  possession  of  the  place  Mr.  Parsons  put  out  about 
40  cherry  trees,  but  nothing  of  great  importance  in 
the  line  of  orchard  work  was  attempted  until  about 
10  years  ago.  Then,  as  the  trees  on  the  place  had 
done  so  well  in  the  past  and  promised  so  much  for 
the  future,  it  was  decided  to  make  a  specialty  of 
the  production  of  fine  fruit  and  about  75  each  of 
from  a  well-known  nursery.  They  were  carefully 
planted  and  less  than  two  per  cent,  of  them  failed 
to  grow. 
SETTING  TIIE  TREES.— These  trees  were  set 
22  feet  apart  each  way.  the  cherry  and  apple  trees 
alternating.  The  cherry  trees  are  designed  largely 
to  utilize  the  ground  for  awhile,  and  to  he  removed 
as  soon  as  the  apple  trees  are  large  enough  to  need 
the  room.  Doubtless  they  will  lie  profitable  as  fillers 
but  whether  the  owners  will  cheerfully  sacrifice  them 
as  soon  as  they  should  he  taken  out  is  not  so  certain. 
No  fertilizer  or  manure  was  used  in  either  orchard 
when  the  trees  were  planted,  and  hut  very  little  has 
since  been  applied.  Mulching  has  been  practiced  to 
some  extent  in  order  to  protect  the  roots  from 
drought  in  Summer  and  cold  in  Winter.  The  rapid 
growth  of  the  trees  in  the  past,  and  their  present 
vigorous  condition,  furnish  ample  proof  that  an 
abundance  of  plant  food  is  within  their  reach  and 
that  manure  would  injure  rather  than  benefit  them. 
Spring,  but  there  is  no  iron-clad  rule  regarding  the 
time  of  its  performance.  Spraying  is  the  most  dif¬ 
ficult  and  expensive  item  in  the  cave  of  the  orchard, 
but  Mr.  Parsons  is  convinced  that  it  is  indispensable 
lo  the  production  of  first-class  fruit.  The  work  is 
usually  done  four  times  each  year.  One  spraying, 
and  one  which  is  considered  of  vital  importance,  is 
given  while  the  buds  are  dormant.  The  time  for 
the  other  sprayings  is  determined* by  the  character 
of  the  season  and  the  condition  of  the  trees  afid 
fruit. 
PEARS  A  DISAPPOINTMENT.— Witli  the  single 
exception  of  the  section  given  to  pears,  the  orchard 
lias  been  a  great  success  in  the  past  and  promises 
much  larger  returns  in  the  future.  The  pear  trees 
were  of  the  Bartlett  variety.  They  were  of  good 
stock,  were  carefully  planted  and  properly  cared  for, 
and  grew  to  a  good  size.  Apparently  all  the  condi¬ 
tions  were  as  favorable  for  them  as  they  were  for 
the  other  kinds  of  trees,  Imt  for  some  wholly  un- 
Picking  Fruit  on  a  Central  New  York  Apple  and  Alfalfa  Farm.  Fig.  18 
pear,  plum  and  prune  trees  and  150  cherry  trees, 
were  added  to  the  orchard. 
INCREASING  ORCHARDS. — Success  with  this 
farm  led  to  the  purchase,  in  partnership  with  an¬ 
other,  of  a  farm  of  13s  acres  in  the  town  of  Camil¬ 
las.  hut  only  four  miles  distant  from  the  home  place. 
This  farm,  of  which  Mr.  Parsons  is  manager,  was 
obtained  for  the  double  purpose  of  increasing  the 
area  of  Alfalfa  and  enlarging  the  orchard.  Two 
years  ago  2,500  apple  trees  and  an  equal  number 
of  cherry  trees  were  planted.  Most  of  the  trees  were 
put  out  in  the  Fall.  For  various  reasons  this  seems 
to  he  a  better  season  than  Spring  for  tree  planting 
in  this  locality.  The  land  had  been  pastured  for 
many  years.  It  was  not  plowed,  hut  the  place  for 
each  tree  was  prepared  by  the  use  of  a  half  a  stick 
of  40  per  cent,  dynamite.  As  compared  with  the 
old  method  this  was  a  great  saving  of  time  and  la¬ 
bor,  and  the  ground  was  put  iu  hotter  condition  for 
planting.  Trees  of  the  best  quality  were  obtained 
At  first  the  ground  in  the  home  orchard  was  culti¬ 
vated.  though  something  iu  the  way  of  a  cover  crop 
was  provided  for  Winter  protection  of  the  soil,  hut 
two  years  ago  the  land  was  seeded  to  Alfalfa.  East 
Spring  a  small  part  of  the  area  was  planted  with 
marrow  beans,  of  which  a  good  crop  was  harvested 
in  the  Fall.  From  the  remainder  of  the  orchard 
two  fair  crops  of  Alfalfa  have  been  taken,  and  there 
is  now  a  considerable  growth  which  will  be  allowed 
to  remain  uncut  on  the  ground.  Most  of  the  trees 
have  been  kept  in  sod,  because  Mr.  I’arsons  believes 
that  cultivation  would  stimulate  growth  of  wood 
at  the  expense  of  fruit  production,  and  also  because 
under  their  past  and  present  treatment  they  are 
hearing  remarkably  well,  and  are  growing  as  rapidly 
as  can  he  desired. 
CARE  OF  TREES, — Pruning  is  practiced  moder¬ 
ately  and  is  directed  to  the  prevention  of  unneces¬ 
sary  growth  rather  than  to  the  removal  of  super¬ 
fluous  wood.  Most  of  this  work  is  done  in  the 
known  reason  they  produced  but  little  fruit  and 
after  a  few  years  they  were  cut  down. 
PEF.MS  AND  PRUNES. — Most  of  the  plum  trees 
were  of  the  Burbank  variety  and  the  German  was  the 
only  variety  of  prunes.  The  trees  have  made  a  won¬ 
derful  growth.  The  plums  are  quite  productive,  but 
the  prunes  are  rather  shy  bearers.  In  appearance 
and  quality  the  fruit  is  first-class.  It  sells  well  to 
Syracuse  dealers  in  fresh  fruits  hut,  as  the  demand 
is  not  likely  to  he  large,  no  effort  will  he  made  to 
increase  the  present  production. 
RESULTS  WITH  APPLES.— Of  apples  the 
Northern  Spy  is  the  principal  variety,  and  is  the 
only  one  upon  which  much  dependence  is  placed  as 
a  market  sort.  In  the  home  orchard  quite  a  number 
t  f  other  kinds,  including  some  of  the  newer  intro¬ 
ductions,  are  represented  by  a  few  trees,  hut  these 
are  grown  mainly  to  produce  fruit  for  home  use  and 
for  experimental  purposes.  With  but  few  exceptions 
the  trees  have  made  a  fine  growth  and  many  of 
