ZT/ie  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
273 
In  terms  of  mamire  it  means  80  tons  (as  most  sta¬ 
ble  manure  contains  over  75%  water).  But  as  this 
organic  matter  is  well  decayed  in  the  soil  it  prob¬ 
ably  represents  at  least  twice  that  amount,  or  100 
tons  of  stable  manure.  That  is — to  build  up  the 
poor  field  equal  to  the  good  one  would  take  16 
years  if  10  tons  of  manure  per  acre  were  applied 
each  year. 
What  an  advantage  the  man  has  who  has  already 
got  his  ground  built  up!  A  10-year  advantage? 
Homemade  Potato  Cutter.  Fig.  70.  See  page  274 
One  that  cannot  he  overcome  this  year,  at  least. 
Necessity  and  not  choice  will  determine  the  mater- 
A  man  of  my  acquaintance  living  near  a  large 
There  will  be  no  10%  potash — an  uncomfortable 
thought  to  many.  It  would  appear,  however,  that 
the  trucker  who  stands  the  best  chance  of  losing  out 
will  be  the  one  whose  soil  is  deficient  in  humus. 
L.  K.  WILKINS. 
Training  Apple  Trees 
OCAL  CONDITIONS. — We  cut  all  trees  to  a 
single  whip  as  they  are  set  and  head  them 
high.  This  is  not  in  accord  with  (he  teachings  of 
the  nurserymen  and  some  others,  but  seems  to  be 
the  best  for  this  region.  A  recent  article  from  Ore¬ 
gon  on  the  subject  of.pruning  trees  gives  much  food 
for  thought.  Some  of  the  conclusions  do  not  seem 
to  he  borne  out  by  the  previous  statements,  but 
there  is  one  remark  of  great  value.  It  is  in  effect 
that  local  conditions  must  be  the  controlling  factor 
in  determining  the  method  of  training  a  tree.  If 
this  is  true  for  the  changes  in  soil,  altitude  and 
rainfall  in  Oregon,  it  is  certainly  true  for  the  dif¬ 
ferences  between  irrigation  farming  conditions  in 
Oregon  and  conditions  in  Western  New  York.  Most 
of  the  recent  articles  on  the  subject  seem  to  be 
written  from  the  standpoint  of  orcharding  where  the 
air  is  always  dry  and  the  moisture  is  brought  to 
the  land  in  irrigation  ditches. 
THE  LEADER  SYSTEM.— We  train  our  trees  in 
general  according  to  the  “leader  system.’’  That  is, 
the  central  leader  is  maintained  as  long  as  possible, 
with  the  side  limbs  coming  off  at  approximately 
right  angles  to  the  trunk.  This  makes  the  strongest 
possible  joint;  the  one  least  likely  to  split  down. 
Each  of  those  limbs  is  trained  the  same  way  except 
that  on  the  lower  limits  branches  growing  downward 
are  cut  off.  The  first  limb  is  started  at  a  height  of 
from  live  to  seven  feet.  Some  of  the  writers  on 
pruning  have  mentioned  that  this  method  lias  ad 
\antages,  but  have  neglected  to  state  them.  The 
loader  system  gives  a  tree  of  the  natural  shape.  We 
are  not  compelled  all  the  time  to  light  the  natural 
tendency  of  the  tree  growth,  but  only  to  direct  it. 
Extremists  of  the  opposite  type  seem  to  aim  to 
produce  a  tree  shaped  like  a  great  bowl  with  the 
leaves  and  fruit  inside.  To  secure  this  they  start 
with  three,  four  or  five  branches,  all  coming  off  at 
practically  the  same  point.  This  makes  a  very 
weak  crotch  at  the  point  where  the  greatest  strain 
must  come.  Each  of  these  limbs  is  trained  in  me 
shape  of  a  great,  fan,  very  thin  up  and  down  and 
triangular  in  general  outline.  To  get  this  the  up¬ 
ward-growing  branches  on  the  upper  side  and  all 
branches  below  which  tend  to  grow  downward  or 
horizontally  must  he  suppressed.  The  result  is  a 
tree  which  must  have  much  cutting  to  keep  it  in 
shape,  and  which  will  be  likely  to  break  down  with 
the  first  real  crop  it.  hears.  Such  a  tree  may  he  all 
right  for  some  of  the  apple  regions  of  the  Far 
West,  where  we  are  told  a  tree  20  to  20  years  old 
is  ready  to  he  pulled  out  to  make  room  for  a  new 
oue.  It  will  not  do  for  Western  New  York  where 
trees  are  still  very  valuable  after  having  been  set 
60  years  or  more. 
II BUI  HEADING. — Many  writers  tell  us  that  we 
ought  to  head  our  trees  low  to  help  in  controlling 
apple  scab.  If  this  is  true  it  is  I  he  greatest  argu¬ 
ment  on  that  side.  The  matter  of  early  production 
is  no  great  argument.  We  have  trees  set  in  1010 
which  ho  re  a  bushel  of  apples  each  Ibis  year,  and 
trees  set  in  1911  which  have  borne  two  crops  of 
apples.  It  is  certainly  easier  to  work  around  a 
tree  headed  high  than  one-  headed  low.  Some  of' 
the  advocates  of  low  heading  tell  us  that,  the  branch¬ 
es  will  not.  droop  so  much  under  this  method.  We 
admit  that,  they  can't.  But  put  a  bushel  of  apples 
and  50  pounds  of  leaves  and  sap' near  the  end  of  a 
branch  two  or  three  inches  in  diameter  and  eight 
feet  long  and  that  branch  will  bend  until  it  touches 
the  ground,  or  until  the  spring  of  the  wood  stops  it. 
In  the  Spring,  when  we  are  working  in  our  or¬ 
chards,  the  limbs  are  out  of  the  way,  but  in  the 
Fall,  when  we  pick  the  l’ruit,  the  ends  of  the  limbs 
touch  the  ground.  Some  of  our  neighbors  who  have 
low-headed  trees  have  to  put  straw  under  them 
every  year  to  keep  the  apples  put  of  the  mud. 
Taken  all  together  except  the  question  of  scab  con¬ 
trol.  the  advantages  of  the  high-headed,  leader  type 
tree  seem  fully  to  balance  the  disadvantages,  under 
our  conditions. 
SCAB  CONTROL. — In  the  control  of  scab  we  feel 
that  the  high-headed  tree  is  much  superior.  If  Dr. 
Reddick’s  studies  have  shown  the  real  life  history 
of  apple  seal),  the  critical  point  in  lighting  it  is  past 
within  about  is  hours  after  each  rainstorm.  The 
spores  are  liberated  in  a  few  minutes  after  raiu 
begins  to  fall.  If  every  spore  which  reaches  leaf, 
fruit  or  young  twig  falls  on  a  crystal  of  sulphur  or 
of  copper  sulphate  its  career  is  ended.  Otherwise 
it  soon  begins  to  grow.  If  water  stands  on  the  leaf 
fur  about  two  days,  or  if  the  air  about  the  leaf  re¬ 
mains  saturated  with  moisture  for  that  time,  the 
germination  tube  will  have  found  a  chance  to  pass 
through  the  epidermis  and  establish  itself  in  the 
! issues.  Then  in  about  eight  days  it  will  burst  out 
through  the  epidermis  and  appear  as  a  scab  spot, 
if  it  dries  out  before  it  Can  grow  down  through  the 
The  Potato  Cutter  in  Use.  Fig.  71.  See  page  274 
epidermis  (the  waxy  looking  outer  skin  of  the  apple 
or  leaf)  it  must  die.  High  heading  helps  in  two 
ways.  The  leaves  are  on  the  ground  when  the 
spores  are  produced,  and  a  spore  must  work  higher 
or  he  blown  higher  to  reach  limbs  that  are  six  feet 
from  the  ground  than  those  that  are  six  inches 
high.  Where  the  branches  reach  to  the  ground  there 
is  less  chance  for  a  circulation  of  air,  and  the  air 
near  the  leaves  will  remain  saturated  longer  after 
a  rain.  We  always  find  more  sea!)  where  the  limbs 
hang  low.  or  where  the  trees  grow  so  close  together 
as  to  prevent  a  free  circulation  of  air. 
In  this  neighborhood  are  trees  of  all  ages  up  to  60 
jenrs  or  more  which  have  been  trained  according  to 
about  every  known  system  and  some  others,  and  a 
study  of  them  all  leads  us  to  the  conclusion  that  a 
high-headed  leader  type  tree  is  best  for  regions  of 
abundant  rainfall  and  high  soil  fertility,  where  ap¬ 
ple  scab  must  lie  fought  and  where  trees  50  years 
old  may  he  expected  to  be  still  in  full  vigor  and 
bearing  full  crops.  A.  c.  w. 
Wayne  County,  N.  Y. 
The  Folly  of  Dishonest  Packing 
YOUR  article  headed  "Shooting  Coles  in  a  State’s 
Reputation,  has  just  been  read  by  me,  and  I 
thought,  "Is  there  anything  but  a  lack  of  common 
sense  that  makes  a  man  put  up  a  deceiving  package 
of  fruit  or  vegetables?”  A  cheat  might  make  his 
getaway  with  one  such  transaction,  and  it  may  be 
hard  fora  naturally  dishonest  person  to  refrain  from 
being  a  cheat  at  times,  but  if  lie  expects  to  continue 
in  business,  can  any  more  short-sighted,  silly  prac¬ 
tice  lie  imagined? 
A  man  of  my  acquaintance  living  near  a  large 
factory  town  in  Indiana  lias  raised  and  sold  over 
i.OOO  bushels  of  strawberries  in  his  home  market. 
Ilis  name  on  his  package  is  regarded  as  a  guarantee 
that  tiie  fruit  is  uniformly  good,  lie  insists  that 
the  pickers  put  nothing  in  the  boxes  they  would  not 
he  willing  to  buy  for  themselves  ami  instructs  them 
to  put  the  larger  berries  in  the  bottom  rather  than 
on  the  top,  and  always  in  changing  from  a  block 
of  one  variety  to  another,  to  put  what  they  may 
then  have  of  the  inferior  kind  on  top.  He  hires  an 
intelligent,  capable  man  to  stay  in  the  patch  to 
direct  the  pickers,  and  see  that  his  instructions  are 
carried  out. 
If  you  bought  a  crate  or  a  box  of  berries  and  on 
turning  them  out  found  the  fruit  even  better  than 
it  appeared  on  top,  would  you  not  have  a  very  pleas¬ 
urable  feeling,  and  would  you  not  look  to  see  where 
they  came  from  with  the  resolve  to  buy  from  the 
same  grower  in  t lie  future  when  you  could  got  his 
fruit?  If  this  grower  lias  inferior  or  second-grade 
stuff  it  is  put  on  the  market  and  sold  as  such.  From 
a  small  beginning  he  has  had  a  gratifying  measure 
of  success  counted  in  the  coin  of  our  country,  and 
surely  the  reputation  ills  fruit  lias  is  also  a  gratifi¬ 
cation  to  him.  lie  says  that  leaving  out  the  ques¬ 
tion  of  honesty  any  man  with  common  sense  must 
know  that  in  the  sale  of  any  article  there  must 
be  no  deception,  hut  full  value  must  he  given  to 
build  up  a  trade.  But  I  suppose  there  will  con¬ 
tinue  to  he  men  who  think  they  are  so  slick  that  they 
caji  fool  others,  which  only  goes  to  prove  the  truth  of 
Daniel  Webster’s  reply  to  the  young  man  who  asked 
his  opinion  as  to  the  advisability  of  taking  up  the 
legal  profession.  Webster  told  him  there  was  al¬ 
ways  room  on  the  upper  shelf.  Let  us  hope  that  in 
the  near  future  the  lower  shelves  in  the  fruit  pack¬ 
ers’  profession  will  Lie  less  crowded.  l.  o.  c. 
Selling  Lime  and  Marl 
I  have  a  small  farm  and  there  is  a  deep  deposit  of 
marl  on  it.  I  would  like  to  know  whether  it  is  of  any 
commercial  value,  or  wlnit  a  person  would  have  to  do 
in  order  to  put  it  on  the  market.  j.  m.  w. 
New  York. 
HE  value  of  that  marl  will  depend  on  its  anal¬ 
ysis,  and  the  price  of  lime  in  your  community. 
The  value  of  nitrogen,  potash  and  phosphorus  are 
now  quite  well  established  by  the  law  of  supply  and 
demand,  and  it  is  getting  to  be  much  the  same  with 
lime.  First  get  an  analysis  made  of  a  fair  sample 
of  the  marl  and  see  just  what  you  have  to  offer. 
Then  find  what  is  charged  for  other  forms  of  lime 
and  marl  at  your  town.  You  will  have  to  compete 
with  others  on  the  amount  of  lime  you  can  offer  for 
a  dollar.  The  analysis  and  these  trade  prices  will 
enable  you  to  figure  out  a  fair  price.  It  is  some¬ 
times  claimed  that  the  lime  in  marl  is  worth  more 
than  in  limestone  but  it  depends  on  the  fineness. 
Probably  to  begin  with  you  can  do  best  with  a  local 
trade  selling  direct  to  nearby  farmers  who  drive 
and  get  the  marl.  Later,  if  it  gives  satisfaction,  you 
can  extend  your  trade,  or  perhaps  sell  the  deposit 
to  some  large  dealers.  You  will  need  to  advertise 
in  the  local  papers,  and  get  out  a  little  circular  tell¬ 
ing  what  your  marl  is  and  giving  the  analysis.  An¬ 
other  New  York  farmer  bought  a  limestone  crusher, 
had  an  analysis  made  and  printed  a  circular  in 
which  he  says: 
Remember  that  Parker’s  brand  of  lime  is  the  com¬ 
plete  stone,  containing  all  of  its  natural  constituents, 
finely  pulverized,  making  it  immediately  .available  for 
plant-food  and  correction  of  acid  soils;  especially  rec- 
How  Potatoes  are  Cut.  Fig.  72.  See  page  274 
oramended  for  vegetables,  small  grains  and  legumes. 
It  conserves  the  moisture,  and  prevents  heavy  soils 
from  baking. 
We  think  there  is  a  fair  opportunity  for  business 
in  this  line. 
A  Silicate  is  a  soil  hardhead.  A  silly  pate  is  a  hu¬ 
man  numbskull. 
Italy  lias  re-established  her  embargo  on  exports  of 
olive  oil,  according  to  the  American  Consul  at  Genoa, 
who  says:  "The  permission  heretofore  granted  by  the 
Italian  Government  for  the  exportation  of  olive  oil, 
which  is  among  the  products  specified  in  the  Italian  em¬ 
bargo  list,  has  been  withdrawn  and  no  more  shipments 
will  he  allowed.” 
