7She  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
361 
making 
days  to 
slioots. 
Five 
hand  all  varieties  planted  in  Spring  have  clone  well. 
1  don't  know  all  the  reasons  for  this.  Some  reasons 
are  the  rats.  mice,  squirrels  or  other  animals  may 
destroy  them,  or  that  they  may  become  washed  out, 
or  buried  too  deeply,  or  in  caked  earth,  riant  either 
in  nursery  rows  or  in  permanent  positions-  Regu¬ 
late  the  depth  of  planting  according  to  the  size  of 
the  nut.  four  inches  for  Black  walnuts  and  less  for 
smaller  nuts.  The  distance  apart  in  the  nursery 
may  be  a  foot  in  the  rows  and  four  or 
live  feet  between  rows.  In  perman¬ 
ent  positions  trees  should  be  from  eight 
to  10  feet  apart  for  the  hazels  up  to 
GO  or  even  70  feet  apart  for  the  large 
nut  trees  like  the  walnuts  and  hick¬ 
ories.  Clean  cultivation  and  the  use 
of  bone  and  blood  fertilizers  will  make 
the  .nut  trees  change  an  old-fashioned 
man's  ideas  about  their  slow  growth. 
In  planting  nuts  for  growing  in  per¬ 
manent  positons,  dynamite  to  loosen 
subsoil  is  good,  for  the  nut  tree  likes 
to  send  down  a  wonderful  tap  root.  A 
yearling  tree  may  have  a  root  many 
times  as  long  as  the  height  of  the  tree. 
Plant  several  nuts,  graft  or  bud  the 
resulting  trees,  and  leave  the  best. 
Nut  trees  are  budded  or  grafted  in  the 
field.  The  modified  cleft  graft  after 
growth  is  well  started  in  the  Spring, 
or  patch  budding  in  August,  described 
iu  my  article  in  The  R.  N.-Y.  for  March 
Gth,  1015,  are  approved  methods. 
Young  shoots  of  nut  trees,  whether 
they  come  from  seed  or  from  an  old 
tree  where  a  limb  or  the  trunk  has 
been  cut  oft',  may  be  grafted  or  budded 
in  the  same  way.  Trees  from  native 
nuts,  properly  started  and  cared  for 
in  the  way  described,  should  be  very 
hardy  and  suffer  no  Winter  injury. 
Some  varieties  of  chestnuts  and  Eng¬ 
lish  walnuts  bear  when  one  or  two 
years  old  and  go  on  increasing  their 
production  according  to  the  care  they 
get  and  the  growth  they  make.  It  may 
be  said  of  the  bearing  of  budded  or 
grafted  nut  trees  that  it  follows  the 
same  general  rules  as  other  fruit  trees, 
nuts  being  fruit  seeds  without  a  fleshy 
ami  edible  covering. 
In  transplanting  nut  trees  from 
your  own  nursery  where  they  do  not 
have  to  be  packed  and  shipped,  but 
can  be  at  once  reset,  the  process  is  a 
simple  one.  Have  a  good  big  hole 
ready  for  the  tree.  Some  recommend 
holes  dynamited  several  weeks  before, 
filled  with  manure  and  allowed  to  set¬ 
tle,  and  the  manure  thrown  out  before 
setting  the  trees.  Dig  the  trees  with 
as  much  of  the  roots  as  you  can  and 
keep  the  roots  sprinkled,  or  covered 
with  a  wet  cloth,  during  the  whole  pro¬ 
cess  of  digging  and  transplanting.  In 
this  way  the  few  fine  roots  that  the 
nut  trees  usually  has  can  be  kept  alive 
to  go  right  on  working.  In  setting  the 
trees  tamp  them  with  a  tamping  stick 
as  firmly  as  possible.  In  dry  spells 
give  them  a  thorough  soaking  through 
crowbar  holes  punched  in  the  ground 
around  the  trees.  If  they  are  not.  in 
clean  cultivation  mulch  the  ground 
around  them  well.  While  they  are 
growth  visit  them  every  few 
remove  worms  or  to  tie  up 
W.  c.  DEMING,  M.  I). 
without  any  attention,  the  wild  grape  producing 
wonderful  crops,  the  wild  seedling  apple  doing  the 
same,  and  had  these  trees  and  vines  been  properly 
sprayed,  the  fruit  would  have  been  of  first  size  and 
appearance,  but  lacking  in  quality.  The  forest  tr&es 
grew  beautifully  and  developed  into  tremendous 
size,  and  all  this  growth  without  any  plant  food  be¬ 
ing  applied,  except  the  decayed  leaves  and  branches 
of  the  trees.  These  leaves  and  branches  acted  as 
Year  English  Walnut 
Bearing  60  Nuts 
Eight  Burs  One  Year  from  Pecans 
Bud 
Young  Nut  Trees.  Fig.  104 
at  One  Year 
sery  Row 
farm  in  1899,  located  in  that  part  of  Fall  River, 
Mass.,  known  as  Indian  Town.  I  selected  my  site 
for  my  first  orchard  on  the  top  of  a  good  water¬ 
shed.  Every  part  of  this  orchard  site  was  well 
drained.  The  plot  of  ground  I  had  selected  was 
growing  a  good  crop  of  bramble,  sweet  fern  and 
hardback.  I  plowed  this  piece  of  ground  with  oxen, 
as  it  was  so  stony  and  rough  that  a  quicker  team 
would  have  made  a  poor  job  of  it.  I  plowed  this 
piece  of  ground  in  the  Fall  of  1904, 
and  did  not  harrow  until  the  Spring 
of  1905.  In  the  Spring  of  1905,  we 
harrowed  just  as  early  as  avc  could,, 
which  was  about  the  middle  of  April. 
After  hayrowing,  we  bushed  and  lev¬ 
eled  the  whole  area  as  best  wo  could. 
On  the  10th  of  May,  1905,  I  set  out  my 
first  apple  and  peach  trees  as  a  com¬ 
mercial  orchard.  I  also  set  out  a  few 
pears  and  plums  for  family  use  and  a 
row  of  grapevines  through  the  entire 
length  of  orchard. 
LATER  CULTIVATION.— After  set¬ 
ting  the  trees,  I  kept  this  ground  thor¬ 
oughly  cultivated,  using  a  one-horse 
cultivator  at  least  once  every  10  days. 
Around  each  tree  and  each  vine,  I 
placed  a  heavy  mulch  of  leaves,  weeds, 
and  any  other  vegetable  matter  that 
was  available.  This  mulch  was  placed 
at.  least  one  foot  thick  around  the 
trees,  being  careful  to  keep  at  least  10 
inches  away  from  trunks.  Two  or 
three  times  during  the  growing  period 
wc  turned  this  mulch  over.  The  first 
of  August,  T  plowed  this  piece  of 
ground,  being  careful  not  to  disturb 
the  mulch  about  the  trees,  then  sowed 
rye  and  Hairy  vetch-  c.  w.  young. 
(Continued  on  page  384.) 
in  Nur- 
Black  Walnut  Changed  to  English  Walnut  The  Pecan  Budder  at  Work  in  the  Field 
How  Improvement  in  Nut  Culture  is  Carried  on.  Fig.  105 
Results  by  Use  of  Cover  Crops 
Providing  Water  and  Humus 
PERSONAL  EXPERIENCE.  —  It 
must  be  understood  that  I  am  only 
giving  my  own  personal  experience 
Avith  the  green  cover  crop,  and  if  tin* 
orchardist  AArill  look  to  this  method  of 
producing  fruit,  lie  will  he  greatly  sur¬ 
prised  and  benefited  by  results.  I  use 
cover  crops  to  apply  plenty  of  humus 
to  the  soil  to  hold  moisture,  and  give  my  trees  a 
chance  to  feed  wholly  upon  the  one  substance  I  be¬ 
lieve  trees  like  best.  As  a  boy,  being  a  farmer’s 
son,  I  had  an  opportunity  to  roam  through  the  fields 
cud  woods,  and  I  had  CA’ory  chance  to  study  tree 
tile  in  its  natural  Avuy.  Near  my  home,  aa'c  had  tre¬ 
mendous  trees  of  pine,  hemlock,  oak,  chestnut,  birch, 
Avihl  grapes  and  here  and  there,  a  wild  apple  tree, 
all  of  these  trees  growing  on  year  in  and  year  out 
T 
A  Sample  Tree  in  C.  W.  Young’s  Orchard.  Fig.  106 
a  mulch  and  held  the  moisture  for  the  trees,  and 
finally  rotted  and  became  a  part  of  the  soil.  My 
love  for  trees  spurred  me  on  to  watch  their  habits  of 
growth,  under  what  conditions  different  varieties 
Avould  do  the  best.  I  fully  made  up  my  mind  if  I 
should  ever  plant  trees  or  an  orchard  I  would  do 
for  my  trees  just  what  nature  did  for  the  wild 
apple,  the  wild  grape,  and  the  trees  of  the  forest. 
THE  ORCHARD  SITE. — Eventually,  I  bought  a 
The  Potato  Crop  in  1915 
Fagan’s  and  Other  Connecticut  Growers 
HIE  EARLY  TRADE.— In  Connec¬ 
ticut  there  are  two  types  of  po¬ 
tato  growers — the  market  gardener 
who  grows  early  potatoes,  and  the  gen¬ 
eral  farmer  who  groAvs  late  potatoes 
as  a  rule.  These  two  classes  of  grow¬ 
ers  differ  considerably  in  their  meth¬ 
ods  and  objects  In  view,  though  they 
both  dispose  of  their  crop  locally.  I 
propose  to  discuss  these  points  briefly, 
with  special  reference  to  two  or  three 
growers  as  illustrations.  The  market 
gardeners  who  grow  early  potatoes 
are  generally  situated  close  to  large 
cities,  such  as  New  Haven  and  Bridge¬ 
port,  where  they  can  dispose  of  their 
potatoes,  as  dug.  quickly  and  with 
short  hauls.  Irish  Cobbler  is  one  of 
the  most  commonly  grown  varieties. 
The  crop  is  planted  early,  and  on  early 
land.  Avith  the  idea  in  view  of  getting 
it  on  the  market  as  soon  as  possible, 
and  thereby  receiving  a  higher  price. 
To  secure  this  early  marketing  the 
grower  often  begins  to  dig  before  the 
tubers  are  fully  grown,  thus  sacrificing 
yield  somewhat  for  increased  price. 
CULTURAL  METHODS.  —  Some 
growers  use  manure  in  part  as  a  fer¬ 
tilizer,  on  the  ground  that  potatoes  dug 
early  are  not  so  likely  to  be  scabby  as 
those  dug  later.  None  of  these  groAV- 
ers  spray  the  potatoes  for  blight,  inas¬ 
much  as  the  crop  is  usually  out  of  the 
way  before  the  blight  season  comes  on, 
though  in  exceptional  years,  as  last, 
i!  attacks  the  vines  .toward  the  end  of 
the  season.  In  such  cases  blight  usu¬ 
ally  affects  them  more  through  rot  of 
rhe  tubers  than  by  direct  decrease  of 
yield  due  to  the  premature  death  of 
the  vines.  When  the  Connecticut  Veg¬ 
etable  Growers’  Association,  held  its 
field  meeting  on  July  29th,  at  the  farm 
of  Mr.  T.  W.  Ryan  in  Stratford,  the 
members  saw  one  of  the  best  yielding 
fields  of  Irish  Cobblers  groAvn  in  the  State.  Mr. 
Ryan’s  farm  lies  near  the  Sound,  ami  consists  of 
very  level,  rich  loam,  free  from  stones,  usually  Avith 
plenty  of  moisture  even  in  dry  season.'  and  fairly 
early.  These  conditions,  together  with  those  of  good 
culture  and  sullicient  artificial  fertilization,  enable 
Mr.  Ryan  to  produce  an  early  crop  much  larger  than 
that  of  the  ordinary  grower.  As  a  result  of  these 
conditions,  he  was  able  to  show  at  this  meeting,  by 
