4886 
THE AURAL NEW-YORKER. 460 
THE DARK SIDE OF FARMING.—III. 
HENRY STEWART. 
There are “ne’er-do-wells” in farming as 
well n.s in other vocations, and many a farm¬ 
er who feels that he is on “the dark side” 
might take aid and comfort, if in no other 
way, by studying well that delightfully 
natural and evidently faithful autobiography 
of Mrs. Mary Wager-Fisher, given on the first 
page of tho Rural of .Tune 5th, in which she 
tells how she learned “if she wanted anything 
accomplished the only way to get it done was 
to do it, and she has never yet learned any 
better way.” One class of men who live on 
“the dark side of farming” is made up of those 
who are givon to the vice of procrastination— 
that “thief of time” which robs us of our best 
gift and which Is ever tempting men to try 
how not to do it, just at the very time when 
some important work should be done. Farm 
work is especially one of times and seasons 
and opportunities, which, if permitted to pass, 
do uot return until a year has passed. A 
young man may not think what a year is. He 
is full of hop©—too full at times, living upon 
it too often. He may think: “Never mind, it 
is too late now for this year, but it will l>e all 
ready next season.” Alas! he forgets the truth 
of that common adage: “The road to ruin is 
paved with good intentions.” 
Another man, forehanded, thoughtful, full 
of plans, but carrying all into execution in 
good season, lives in sunshine. His crops are 
good, being putin in good time they get ahead 
of bad seasons: bis plowing is all done in the 
Fall; his spring seeding'is finished while the 
land is in its best condition: his wet land has 
been drained in the Winter, and while his 
procrastinating neighbor has been always 
going to fix his fences, attend bis tools, bang 
his gates, get his summer fuel into the shed, 
and do the thousand and one things which 
should have kept him busy all through the 
cold weather, and has been gossiping or idling 
his time away, the forehanded man has been 
doing all these things. This one has every¬ 
thing needed and ready for use. His hay and 
fodder got in in dry weather are the best, of food 
for his cows and horses; the stables and barns 
have every convenience and safeguard; all his 
fields are well fenced anti furnished with good 
gates; there is a place for everything and 
everything is iu its place. Nothing goes amiss 
with him, because everything goes by rule 
and plan, all laid down ahead, and every work 
or arrangement is done or made before the 
necessity for it arises. The old story of the 
man whose ham roof leaked so badly applies 
just here: when the weather was line the roof 
did well enough autl didn't need fixing; and 
when it rained it couldn’t be fixed—and so it 
was never done, until by and by the old shing¬ 
les blew off in a storm and great damage was 
done and the cost was increased several 
times. 
There is another old story, too, which has 
so useful a moral that I am tempted to repeat 
it. A man going on a journey noticed a nail 
in his horse’s shoe was missing. He thought 
it would not matter and he could get that 
little thing fixed when he returned. He 
started; the roads were bad and the weakened 
shoe was soon torn from the horse’s foot. 
Then the horse went lame, and in passing a 
steep, rocky bank it tripped, stumbled and 
fell and rolled down into the river, and horse 
and rider were drowned. 
list’l Societies. 
FRUIT GROWERS OF WESTERN MICH¬ 
IGAN. 
(RURAL SPECIAL REPORT.) 
Clean cultivation of peach orchards; catch¬ 
ing the eurcufio; marketing fruit; neces¬ 
sity of thinning fruit; trees for timber 
and. fruit; the timber supply; tree ped¬ 
dlers; new fruits. 
The summer meeting of the “West Michi¬ 
gan Fruit Growers’ Society” was held at South 
Haven, beginning on Wednesday evening, 
Juno 33d. This society rules over the fruit 
belt on the east shore of Lake Michigan, The 
Governor of the State, with his wife, spent 
one day at the meeting, riding through the 
orchards and vineyards. He called this shore 
the “Italy of America." There was a great 
laugh at his expense when he asked what crop 
they were preparing the ground under the 
trees so nicely for. He was not aware that 
this clean cultivation was continuous from 
early Spring to the first ripening of the 
peaches. He learned that after the crop is 
gathered, the ground is sown to winter rye, to 
blanket the earth for Winter and to hold the 
eaves* as a mulch to protect the roots. The 
rye is plowed under in the last of May, and 
clean culture is practiced from that time until 
August. He saw the method of catching the 
curculio, Twosbeets are nailed to frames8x10 
feet; four boys, one at. each end, carry these on 
opposite sides of the row abreast, of each other, 
and two men walk beside the sheets; one hits 
one side of the branches with a padded mallet 
and the other the other side, and no stop is 
made until the end of the row is reached, 
when the little Turks are placed in a tight box 
until all the rows have been gone over for 
the day. Hot water is then poured in the box 
on the accumulations of leaves, twigs and 
eurculios, and left to fermeut until the next 
day, when the chickens are allowed to scratch 
over the pile and pick out the insects. Home- 
times the two rear carriers hang the frames 
to ropes about their necks and use the mallets. 
This needs but four persons, while the former 
method requires six. The trees are loaded 
with the green fruit and much thinning must 
be done to perfect it. 
H. Dale Adams discussed the “Prospective 
Overproduction” of fruit this season, and what 
we are going to do about it. He advocated 
extending the markets to unoccupied terri¬ 
tory, and gave some examples of the folly of 
sending everything to Chicago and to St. Paul. 
Joseph Lannin, of South Haven, had seen 
many barrels of fruit sent to market that had 
better have been destroyed. He favored send¬ 
ing only the l>est. in full packages, as 
likely to sell readily and prevent a glut in the 
market. Mr. Bebee thought it better not to 
raise poor fruit at all. If we take out two 
peaches and leave one, the one will equal the 
three in bulk, and be more perfect in symme¬ 
try and color, and sell for more money. It is 
not the pulp, but the seed that exhausts the 
vigor of the tree, and if but one seed is grown, 
where three would otherwise have been, the 
tree is less likely to become exhausted from 
overbearing. J. N. Stern had never seen an 
overproduction of first-quality trait. He 
never had No. 1 strawberries enough to sup¬ 
ply tin- demand. To get extra-quality fruit, 
of either apples or peaches, we must thin them 
out when small; then there is no danger of 
overproduction. Mr. Williams had picked off 
10,000 peaches from one tree and left sufficient 
for a crop still. If these peaches had remain¬ 
ed on the tree, they would have caused the tree 
either to break with its burden, or become so 
feeble by the effort to perfect so much seed, 
that it would have been useless for a year or 
two afterward. 
A. S. Dyekman had bad some experience 
in digging gold in California, but the digging 
among his fruit trees was a source of much 
greater happiness. The days were a continu¬ 
ous recreation while in the peach orchard. As 
long as he lived he expected to be planting 
peach trees and caring for them. A. C. 
Glidden could not explain the transforming 
influences that surrounded the man who cul¬ 
tivated fruit. He only knew that it made a 
better man of him in every way. He could 
uot lie a mean man with everything in nature 
combining to educate him into a better life. 
There is a tie of brotherhood between fruit 
men stronger than tho link that binds com¬ 
mon humanity. 
W, A. Smith made a plea for planting such 
trees as would furnish both timber aud nuts 
as well as shade. Chestnut, black walnut and 
hickory were recommended. He believed 
that one-fourth of the area of every farm 
should be devoted to the growth of timber. 
A. C. Gliddou did not entertain such pessi¬ 
mistic views regarding the future timber sup¬ 
ply as were usually expressed ou this subject. 
He believed there was still timber enough 
growing to supply the probable wants of the 
world. Much of the timber the destruction 
of which we deplore, is mature, and would 
constantly decrease in value if left standing. 
It is a measure of ecouomy to cut it, and 
work it up while it is sound. Wo have a good 
deal of sympathy for the fine trees that stand 
on some other man’s laud. We all would 
probably be as anxious to realize if we owned 
the timber ourselves. Ho believed the wants 
of the future would be just as they always 
had been in the past. Who knows but that the 
1(H) or more feet of blue clay beneath our feet 
will yield up its alumina to some ingenious per¬ 
son present, from which our wagons, buggies 
and tools will all be made. This process once 
discovered will revolutionize the manufacture 
of all articles uow constructed of wood. 
It would be a matter of no more astonish¬ 
ment than many things that have happened 
within the memory of all of us. 
A. C. Merritt said the pleasure be derives 
from a chestnut tree is not due to the thought 
that it may make llX) rails to the cut, but it is 
from the thought that ho can shake out the 
nuts from the trees the seed of which he has 
planted with his own hands. He gave instan¬ 
ces of remarkably quick growth in chestnut 
trees. 
J. N. Stern read a paper upon “The Relations 
of Nurserymen to Fruit-growers." The sus¬ 
picion which the fruit grower has of the 
nurserymau has been engendered by the ir¬ 
responsible or irrepressible tree dealer, for 
whose chicanery the nurseryman is in no way 
responsible. The man who grows trees and 
whose soul is in the work, cannot very well 
be a bad man. The discussion developed the 
fact that tho fruit growers present had no 
reasonable complaints to make. Mistakes 
were sometimes made, but no more than are 
incident to other branches of business. 
The discussion of uow fruits of recent intro¬ 
duction was led by that veteran pomologist, 
T. T. Lyon, of South Haven. He was very 
conservative in his recommendations, and 
said there were many kinds that had been 
heralded with a flourish of trumpets, that must 
eventually go to the wall. W. A. Brown, of 
Stcvensville, said there was an uncertainty 
attending the cultivation of new varieties, 
which prevented their acceptance to replace 
old favorites. TVe doubtless must bid good¬ 
bye to the Wilson Strawberry, on account of 
blight on the foliage, aud it is a great question 
what variety shall replace it. Possibly if we 
had a thorough knowledge of some of those 
newer kinds, there might be some that would 
be acceptable. The Turner Raspberry still 
holds its own with the Cuthbert. It will stand 
on the plantation 15 years and remain good, 
while the Cuthbert will run out in two or 
three years. Mr. Bronsen, of St. Joseph, 
pinned his faith to the Sharpless. He had ex¬ 
hibited berries of that variety this year that 
made a quart with only 13 berries. One of 
them measured 8V inches around. He selected 
his plants from those growing on very rich 
soil, and believed in selection in strawberry 
plants as well as in anything else. 
At the evening session statistics were given 
showing the number of peach trees in the 
counties of Berrien, Van Bureu and Allegan. 
In 1885 there were 5,4(59 acres planted. The 
number per acre runs from 105 to 135. This 
would give over (500,000 trees in the three 
counties, but all are not yet in bearing. 
a. c. G. 
Slrcljitaturf. 
HORNELLSVILLE FARMERS’ CLUB. 
A live, practical farmers' club can work an 
immense amount of good iu any community. 
The Hornellsville Club has been remarkably 
successful, and this success shows what grand 
results can be accomplished in any commun¬ 
ity when energetic farmers are disposed to 
combine. Less than three years ago a dozen 
practical farmers met at the City Hall at 
Hornellsville, N. Y., and “resolved” that it was 
the desire of the persons present to form a 
farmers’ club. It was decided that the meet¬ 
ings should be held the first and third Satur¬ 
days of each month for'the purpose of discuss¬ 
ing topics reflating to the everyday life of a 
farmer. The discussions were of the nature 
of plain business-like talks, with some well 
posted person to open and state his views, so 
that the others could oppose or substantiate 
his statements. These discussions were widely 
quoted and the result was that the member¬ 
ship was very rapidly increased. With this 
increased membership came an increased in¬ 
fluence. It. was soou felt that a larger meet¬ 
ing should he held each year, a mooting large 
enough to attract exhibits of manufactures 
from all parts of the country so that farmers 
might see aud discuss the latest inventions in 
agricultural machinery. To secure the funds 
needed to hold these meetings, the club organ¬ 
ized under the laws of the State, and Issued 
shares at 810 each. Members were thus en¬ 
abled to contribute large or small amounts as 
they desired. Stock was freely taken: and to¬ 
day the club holds, partly leased and partly as 
its own property, one of the finest exhibit¬ 
ion grounds in the country. At every exhib¬ 
ition all available space has been overrun and 
an additional strip of land has just been 
bought for #4,(XX). On this land an exposit¬ 
ion building is to be erected with many pens 
and stalls. A picture of this buiklingis shown 
at Fig. 284. 
P amological. 
THE HARDINESS OF TREES. 
Hardy trees needed in the West; the kinds 
we can and can't grow; influences sup¬ 
posed to affect hardiness; of what does 
hardiness consist ? hardiness an inherent 
quality. 
That quality which enables a tree to endure 
a low temperature is an all-important one to 
the Western planter. Eastern men find com¬ 
paratively little limit in their choice of the 
different fruits aud their varieties, but on 
the broad Northwestern prairies the list is cut 
down by the extremes of climate to a few 
varieties and to fewer kinds. In pears, nothing 
is yet known. All selections introduced and 
tried have failed, either from blight or 
cold, or both. Our hopes noware that some 
of the Eastern Europeans being tided by 
Professor Budd at the Iowa State Ag’l. ^ Col¬ 
lege, may succeed. Of apples, the only well- 
tried, profitable and productive variety we 
grow is the Duchess. A few others have been 
a partial success in congenial localities, but 
not to the general planter. Of course, there 
are great hopes of enlarging the profitable 
list, hut it can be done only by meeting the 
cold Winters with something hardy. No 
peaches or quinces worth mentioning are 
grown north of the 40th parallel. The Early 
Richmond and Euglish Morello Cherries are 
much planted, but we would have more fruit, 
if they were hardier. The large European 
plums are absolutely tender. Our wild native 
race is hardy, and offers so good a field for 
selections in size and quality that it is only a 
matter of time when we shall have all of this 
fruit we want. In this short outline of the 
existing conditions of our fruit trees is shown 
our need of inquiry into those questions 
which control the problem of hardiness. So 
many thousands of orchards are almost com¬ 
plete failures and so many of our planters 
have been disappointed that wo are keenly 
awake to any light which will help to a 
practical solution of the question. 
Many farmers who have suffered losses in 
their orchards have given the subject but a 
passing thought. Those who have studied it 
have placed more or less stress upon some par¬ 
ticular condition, ignoring the fact that there 
is a multitude of these, each of which is more or 
less potent: growing Falls, dry Falls, wet 
weather just before freezing, spring freezing 
ami thaw T ing. sickly summer growth and many 
other causes are emphasized. These have led 
to a mass of theories aud conjectures, some of 
which are directly opposite. Let us examine 
and try to get the facts. It is commonly held 
that trees which grow late in the Fall are ten¬ 
der. This is only half true, as established by 
experience. The quite rugged Roman Stem 
Apple is a late grower; Nos. 257 and 413 of the 
Russian apples are late iu ripening their wood 
and very hardy. The never-injured Tetofskv 
and Whitney hold their leaves until freezing. 
Nor is the habit of early ripening of the wood a 
certain indication of hardiness; for many early- 
maturing varieties, like the Red June and the 
Chenango Strawberry, are quite tender. As 
to wet Falls and frozen w ood cells, let the theor¬ 
ists settle as best they can. Some are uow 
asserting, contrary to old belief, that the losses 
of past hardy varieties were from lack of 
water in the Fall. Some trees, like the Wall- 
bridge, are great, absorbers of water and grow 
soft shoots, yet q re quite hardy. Others with 
like nature are tender. Among those which 
do not use much water, some are hardy aud 
some tender; the same facts are found in com¬ 
paring the different slow and fast-growing 
varieties. No tree is hardier than the vigor¬ 
ous crabs, nor more tender than the slow- 
growing Early Joe. 
Since one tree will show a nature entirely 
different from another’s growing by its side, 
we must conclude that it is owing to some¬ 
thing different from the surrounding condi¬ 
tions. It is the nature of the tree, iu the tree 
itself. It was inherited. Quality, shape, color 
of fruit, the leaves, the habit of growth, the 
hardiness to endure heat, cold and disease 
were all given it by its parents. If it is not 
naturally hardy enough to endure a low tem- 
perature, it is useless to conjecture, when its 
death comes. It comes iu the usual order of 
events as a natural circumstance. We must 
aim to suit natural circumstances, and, be¬ 
cause we do uot succeed, we must not claim 
that they misuse us. L. e. b. 
Lincoln, Neb. 
