1174 
perfectly  round  a  little  turning  will  usually  make 
them  fit.  If  not.  a  small  apple  should  never  be  put 
in,  nor  should  one  he  turned  on  edge.  Better  take 
out  five  or  six  and  put  in  as  many  a  little  larger  or 
a  little  smaller.  When  this  row  is  light  put  in  a 
second  row  in  the  same  way.  Then,  according  to 
the  size  used,  one,  three,  four  or  another  row  with 
one  in  the  center  may  be  used.  If  different,  sized 
apples  must  be  used  in  the  different  rows  always 
put  the  largest  ones  in  the  center,  and  try  to  have 
those  in  each  row  as  nearly  as  possible  the  same 
size  For  two  rings  with  one  apple  in  the  center 
take  apples  about  three  and  a  half  inches  in  diam¬ 
eter.  For  two  rings  and  three  in  the  center,  take 
apples  about  3%  inches.  Two  rings  and  four  in  the 
center  take  apples  just  under  three  inches.  Three 
rings  and  one  in  the  center  take  apples  about  2% 
inches. 
FILLING  THE  BARREL.— With  the  barrel  faced 
it  is  ready  to  be  filled.  It  is  best  to  have  on  the 
sorting  table  at  one  time  apples  from  as  many  trees 
and  parts  of  the  trees  as  possible,  so  as  to  get  a 
uniform  pack.  A  canvas  apron  is  fastened  to  the 
table  at  the  lower  end  of  the  barreling  spout.  This 
is  thrown  up  over  the  table,  the  barrel  placed  and 
the  apron  laid  over  it  to  form  a  sort  of  pocket  which 
will  hold  about  a  half  bushel.  Then  the  gate  is 
removed  and  the  apron  filled.  When  it  is  desired  to 
stop  the  apples  the  gate  goes  back.  The  man  at 
the  barrel  has  the  gate  in  one  hand  most  of  the 
time.  When  the  pocket  in  the  apron  is  filled  it  is 
lowered  into  the  barrel  and  the  apples  allowed  to 
run  out.  Then  it  is  pulled  up  and  filled  again.  The 
barrel  should  stand  on  something  solid,  and  should 
be  shaken  vigorously  each  time  that  about,  a  bushel 
of  apples  has  been  put  in  it.  When  it  is  filled  it  is 
rolled  away  to  the  header.  Some  growers  make  a 
practice  of  “tailing”  all  their  barrels.  This  varies 
all  thp  way  from  little  more  than  the  necessary 
leveling  up  to  a  careful  facing  with  apples  laid  on 
edge. 
HEADING. — The  first  step  in  heading  is  to  get 
the  barrel  on  a  smooth  hard  surface  (a  cement  floor 
is  best  but  a  heavy  plank  in  the  orchard  will  do 
fairly  well)  and  shake  it  down  well  with  a  “follow¬ 
er”.  The  follower  is  a  circular  board  a  little  small¬ 
er  than  a  barrel  head  with  a  pad  on  one  side  to 
prevent  bruising.  This  is  held  on  top  of  the  apples 
while  the  barrel  is  shaken.  It  levels  the  fruit  while 
it  is  being  worked  togethei*.  After  shaking  the  ap¬ 
ples  should  stand  nearly  an  inch  higher  than  they 
will  when  the  head  is  in  place.  Next  put  on  the 
paper,  then  the  corrugated  cap  or  the  cushion,  and 
then  the  head  and.  after  taking  off  the  upper  hoop, 
apply  pressure.  When  the  head  about  touches  the 
barrel  loosen  the  second  hoop,  and  a  little  more 
pressure  with  a  few  taps  of  the  hatchet  will  put 
it  in  place.  A  few  taps  of  the  hatchet  will  then  set 
the  hoop  so  that  it  will  hold  until  the  press  can 
be  removed  and  the  top  hoop  put  in  position.  A  lit¬ 
tle  more  rapid  work  can  be  done  with  some  types  of 
lever  press  than  with  the  screw  press  in  the  picture, 
and  this  is  important  in  a  busy  season. 
IMPORTANT  POINTS. — There  are  three  import¬ 
ant  points  in  the  grading  and  packing  of  apples 
after  they  are  picked.  First,  get  good  facing. 
Second,  have  a  good  man  barreling.  Third,  have 
the  apples  well  shaken  down  before  the  press  is 
applied.  If  the  barrels  are  to  carry  well  they  must 
be  about  as  tight  as  possible  without  crushing  the 
apples.  If  they  are  not  well  shaken  they  will  be 
too  tight  when  packed,  and  slack  when  they  have 
been  hauled  a  few  miles.  The  great  advantage  of 
a  packing  house  is  in  the  fact  that  a  barrel  can  be 
better  shaken  down  on  the  cement  floor  than  it  can 
on  a  plank  in  the  orchard.  There  will  always  be 
more  crushed  apples,  more  slack  barrels  and  more 
burst-out  heads  in  an  orchard  pack  than  in  a  pack¬ 
ing-house  pack.  ALFRED  C.  WEED. 
Wayne  County,  N.  T. 
An  Iowa  Workman  and  Eastern  Farms 
I  would  like  to  have  your  opinion  on  a  matter  that 
is  very  important  t<>  me.  I  am  a  young  man,  and  have 
been  working  by  the  day  and  month  for  a  few  years 
now.  and  have  $1,000  or  $1,200  saved  up.  I  hesitate 
when  I  think  of  the  price  of  land  here  in  Iowa  to  in¬ 
vest  it  in  land  here,  iu  fact  that  amount  of  eash  would 
not  make  a  respectable  payment  on  SO  acres  in  this 
country.  When  it  comes  to  paying  $10  to  $12  an  acre 
rent  for  a  farm,  practically  all  the  men  that  pay  such 
rent  just  about  break  even.  Some  years  they  make  a 
little  and  some  years  they  lose  money.  The  man  who 
owns  the  place  gets  his  rent  just,  the  same,  hut  he  has 
to  have  $12  rent  for  his  land  to  make  him  six  per  cent, 
on  $200  land.  Seeing,  a.'  I  have,  how  hard  it  is  for 
these  men  t« •  make  their  rent  and  living  at  such  prices, 
I  wonder  they  don’t  go  crazy. 
Then  another  thing:  The  time  has  come  here  when 
the  soil  must,  be  improved  hy  potash,  phosphates  and 
especially  hy  the  free  use  of  lime.  The  high  rent  de¬ 
manded  from  the  renter  has  caused  him  to  “skin”  the 
soil  for  all  he  can  get  out  of  it.  Now  considering  tire 
above  facts  would  you  consider  it  a  wise  thing  to  go 
back  to  New  York  State  and  invest  in  a  small  farm? 
■Uhe  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
I  have  noticed  ever  since  I  have  been  taking  TrtE  R. 
N.-Y.  that  the  farms  I  sec  advertised  are  very  low  in 
price.  Of  course  I  know  nothing  else  about  them  t  they 
may  not  be  worth  any  more  than  is  asked  for  them 
but  I  have  heard  for  a  long  time  about  tlm  cheap 
land  in  New  York.  You  know  the  facts  concerning 
land  in  the  East.  I  have  told  you  a  few  things  about 
the  conditions  here  and  hope  you  can  give  me  some 
advice  in  this  matter.  A.  W.  C. 
Washington  Co.,  Iowa. 
NY  man  who  advises  a  Western  farmer  to  move 
East  takes  a  great  responsibility,  unless  the 
far’mer  has  good  capital  and  can  afford  to  come  and 
look  the  ground  over.  We  have  had  many  calls 
from  Western  land  owners.  They  propose  selling 
land  at  about  $200  and  then  coming  here  to  buy  land 
at  about  $100.  reserving  the  balance  of  their  money 
for  working  capital.  Such  a  move  is  often  good 
business  for,  with  his  capital,  such  a  farmer  can  ob¬ 
tain  good  land  and  work  it  to  advantage.  In  Cen¬ 
tral  New  York  he  could  find  land  much  like  his 
Western  farm  and  could  run  much  the  same  sort  of 
farming  to  advantage.  With  a  working  man  like  A. 
W.  C.  the  case  is  very  different.  He  has  but  a 
small  capital  and  probably  knows  little  or  nothing 
about  Eastern  farming.  He  would  have  it  all  to 
learn  and  the  learning  would  cost  about  all  the 
money  he  has.  The  “cheap”  farms  in  New  Yoi'k  are 
usually  low  in  price  because  something  is  the  mat¬ 
ter  with  the  farm.  Land  is  usually  classified  at 
about  what  it  is  worth.  When  you  find  cheap  farms 
the  soil  is  thin  and  rocky  or  exhausted,  the  buildings 
are  poor,  the  location  bad  or  the  market  facilities 
are  poor.  Bo  it  is  usually  true  that  such  cheap 
farms  are  not  well  suited  to  the  man  with  small 
capital  and  little  knowledge  of  local  farming.  Borne 
men  take  such  farms  and  do  quite  well,  but  it  is 
because  they  understand  the  soil  and  the  conditions 
and  know  just  what  to  do  from  the  start.  A  West¬ 
ern  farmer  coming  in  without  any  knowledge  of  hill 
farming  or  Eastern  conditions  would  not  know  what 
to  do.  Then  you  must  remember  that  New  York  is 
a  big  State — with  all  sorts  of  soil  and  farm  condi¬ 
tions.  There  are  broad,  level  rich  fields  and  other 
fields  so  steep  that  a  goat  could  hardly  climb  them. 
Take  the  four  corners  of  the  State  as  represented 
by  Dutchess,  Clinton,  Orleans  and  Chautauqua  Coun¬ 
ties  and  it  would  be  hard  to  think  of  four  more  dis¬ 
tinct  types  of  farm  land  or  conditions.  We  firmly 
believe  that  the  Northeastern  part  of  this  country, 
including  New  England,  New  York  and  Pennsylvania 
will  include  the  most  profitable  farm  lands  in  the 
country  during  the  next  50  years.  Natural  advan¬ 
tages  will  be  utilized,  and  our  great  markets  will  be 
developed  more  and  more.  But  farming  iu  this 
Eastern  country  is  a  business  by  itself,  and  every 
Western  man  who  attempts  it  must  pay  for  his  edu¬ 
cation  in  some  way.  A.  W.  C.  does  not  say  whether 
he  has  a  family  or  not.  If  he  is  a  skilled  farm 
worker  our  advice  would  be  to  get  a  job  on  some 
good  New  York  farm  and  try  it  out  in  that  way. 
Good  hands  are  in  demand,  and  a  year’s  work  here 
and  there  at  different  kinds  of  fanning  would  en¬ 
able  A.  W.  C.  to  learn  about  the  country  and  add 
to  bis  savings  while  lie  is  learning.  Then,  if  be  can 
make  good  as  a  workman  and  still  wants  a  farm  he 
can  buy  to  much  better  advantage  than  if  he  came 
as  a  stranger. 
Good  Returns  from  Muck 
O.  FIPPIN,  on  page  90S,  makes  some  state- 
•  ments  on  soil  maintenance  that,  to  say  the 
least,  need  a  review.  There  is  some  scientific  foun¬ 
dation  for  the  notion  that  live  stock  is  the  only  way 
to  a  permanent  agriculture.  Where  muck  can  be 
secured  without  injuring  the  agricultural  area  it  is 
not  only  one  of  the  best  forms  of  humus  for  soils 
needing  liumus — and  without  doubt  this  is  one  of 
the  greatest  needs  of  the  soil  in  our  older  sections — 
but  humus  from  muck  often  goes  much  further  and 
gives  far  greater  results  than  fresh  stable  manure. 
We  thoroughly  believe  in  the  economic  use  of  all 
available  stable  manure,  but  the  farming  profession 
must  have  the  whole  truth,  and  then  the  great  prob¬ 
lem  of  a  better  soil  condition  is  none  too  easy.  The 
practical  end  of  this  problem  must  be  recognized. 
The  testimony  of  the  growing  crops  as  they  express 
themselves  in  definite  results  cannot  be  overlooked. 
The  demonstration  plot  tells  a  true  story,  and  when 
correctly  interpreted  renders  evidence  that  must  be 
reckoned  with. 
At  the  farm  of  Roger  Reed.  Saugatuck,  Mich.,  last 
year,  25  loads  of  muck  to  the  acre  gave  much  better 
results  in  the  ensuing  corn  crop  than  did  the  same 
number  of  loads  per  acre  of  stable  manure  from  a 
well-tended  dairy  herd.  As  a  source  of  humus,  where 
soils  especially  need  this  element,  muck  is  hard  to 
beat.  Reasonably  dry  muck  is  practically  all  hu¬ 
mus  decayed  to  that  point  where  its  use  in  the  soil 
may  begin  at  once.  Fresh  stable  manure  is  75% 
water,  and  when  reduced  to  a  state  of  Uecomposi- 
September  9,  191G. 
tion  that  breaks  up  its  fibre,  a  load  of  manure  will 
shrink  to  only  a  few  bushels  of  humus.  Again, 
feed  that  is  passed  through  the  animal’s  digestive 
tract  loses  in  the  process  of  digestion  from  65  to 
90%  of  its  humus-making  value — a  fact  that  stock¬ 
men  have  overlooked  too  long  in  summing  up  stock 
benefits. 
Mucks  that  have  been  analyzed  by  the  Michigan 
Experiment  Station  chemist  have  run  as  high  as 
3%  nitrogen,  while  many  have  gone  over  2%.  This 
nitrogen  value  alone  makes  muck  rank  high  in 
terms  of  nitrogen  as  offered  to  the  trade  in  com¬ 
mercial  fertilizers.  Nature  has  been  good  to  the 
farmer,  and  lucky  indeed  for  him  this  large  quan¬ 
tity  of  nitrogen  is  available  by  degrees,  else  an  ap¬ 
plication  of  20  or  30  loads  per  acre  of  muck  would 
furnish  an  excess  of  nitrogen,  while  no  more  hu¬ 
mus  than  the  soil  needed  would  he  applied. 
The  writer  began  using  muck  as  a  fertilizer  10 
years  ago  to  farm  lands  and  during  the  last  three 
years  has  beeu  instrumental  in  getting  many  other 
farmers  to  make  use  of  this  great  reserved  source  of 
fertility.  Results  on  all  hands  when  judiciously 
applied,  leave  no  argument  against  this  practice 
when  muck  can  be  secured  without  injury  to  the 
lower  areas. 
The  wash  of  the  ages  has  been  from  the  higher 
to  the  lower  lands,  with  the  result  that  while  upper 
lands  are  wanting  in  humus  and  nitrogen  the  low¬ 
er  pockets  with  deep  muck  deposits  have  too  much 
of  this  material  to  make  it  possible  for  the  farmer 
to  grow  many  farm  crops  without  throwing  them 
out  of  balance. 
The  Wisconsin  Experiment  Station  has  published 
a  bulletin  on  the  use  of  muck  on  their  sandy  areas 
r.nd  their  deductions  go  to  show  that  load  for  load 
muck,  or  more  especially  peat,  yielded  an  influence 
in  the  soil  equal  to  manure  where  nitrogen  and 
humus  were  the  factors  especially  needed;  and  that 
the  muck  areas  exerted  the  beneficial  influence  three 
or  four  times  as  long  as  did  stable  manure.  While 
the  manure  spent  its  best  influence  in  three  or  four 
years  the  muck  remained  active  from  nine  to  12 
years. 
These  are  vital  factors  in  soil  fertility  that  need 
to  be  known  and  used  by  farmers  much  more  than 
they  are  at  present,  and  any  move  to  obscure  this 
issue  works  against  their  best  interest. 
Michigan.  c.  b.  cook. 
Sulphur  as  a  Fertilizer 
EVERY  year  or  so,  a  discussion  as  to  the  value 
of  sulphur  as  a  fertilizer  comes  up.  When 
they  were  published  we  gave  a  report  of  the  experi¬ 
ments  conducted  iu  Kentucky,  which  showed  that 
on  many  soils  of  that  State  the  application  of  sul¬ 
phur,  either  direct  or  in  the  form  of  land  plaster, 
really  gave  good  results.  For  many  years  it  was 
supposed  that  the  amount  of  sulphur  in  most  of 
our  farm  crops  was  very  small,  as  ordinary  analysis 
showed  only  a  small  quantity.  Then  it  was  found 
that  in  ordinary  methods  of  analysis  a  good  part  of 
the  sulphur  was  lost,  and  did  not  show  in  the  final 
figures.  New  methods  of  analysis  brought  out  the 
fact  that  in  many  of  our  plants  the  amount  of  sul¬ 
phur  is  in  excess  of  the  phosphorus,  while  in  most 
of  the  soils  the  phosphorus  is  in  excess  of  the  sul¬ 
phur.  For  example,  Alfalfa  is  a  plant  carrying 
quite  large  quantities  of  sulphur,  more  in  fact  than 
of  phosphorus.  Now  experiments  are  reported  from 
Oregon  in  which  the  application  of  sulphur  has 
given  excellent  results  for  the  Alfalfa  crop.  Either 
the  flowers  of  sulphur,  superphosphate  or  land  plas¬ 
ter  gave  considerable  increase  in  the  yield.  On 
these  soils  it  is  evident  that  the  sulphur  is  below 
normal.  There  is  not  as  much  sulphur  as  the  or¬ 
dinary  soil  will  show,  and  the  fact  that  the  Alfalfa 
contains  so  much  of  it  makes  the  application  iu 
some  form  a  necessity.  Land  plaster  is  a  sulphate 
of  lime,  and  acid  phosphate,  being  made  by  a  mix¬ 
ture  of  sulphuric  acid  and  ground  phosphate  rock, 
naturally  contains  some  sulphur,  and  both  substances 
therefore  gave  good  results  when  used  on  soil  which 
is  lacking  in  that  material. 
Turnip  also,  and  cabbage,  contain  large  quantities 
of  sulphur,  and  so  do  the  clovers.  Such  crops  as 
wheat,  and  In  fact  most  of  the  grains  and  fruit 
trees,  do  not  require  sulphur  to  any  great  extent, 
but  without  question  there  are  other  crops  which 
absolutely  need  it.  As  a  result  of  these  experiments 
therefore  we  know  just  about  as  much  as  we  did  be¬ 
fore,  which  Is  that  on  some  soils  sulphur  is  deficient, 
while  there  are  certain  crops  which  naturally  re¬ 
quire  large  quantities  of  this  element.  Alfalfa,  clo¬ 
ver.  cabbage  or  turnips  put  on  a  soil  iu  which  the 
sulphur  was  deficient  ought  to  be  supplied  with 
this  element  in  some  form ;  300  pounds  per  acre  of 
the  ordinary  flowers  of  sulphur  will  make  a  large 
