VoL LXIL No. 2762, 
NEW YORK, JANUARY 6, 1906. 
PER YEAR. 
HOW SHALL WE WORK THE ORCHARD? 
Culfivafion Needed Here. 
Not long since I was in Greene Co., N. Y., attend¬ 
ing institutes. The crop of apples there was simply 
immense, large, line colored, free from knots and 
worms. The apple grows there naturally. The road¬ 
side, the fields and the woods, even, all have plenty 
of small trees scattered around in them where they 
have grown from seed. This is one of the most fa¬ 
vorable signs one can have of the adaptability of the 
soil for the desired crop—it grows wild and without 
planting. They come up so thick that one man cut 
out the surplus and had regular rows left in a field 
of several acres. The trees will be grafted, and will 
bear in a few years better fruit than nursery trees. 
One man showed me Ben Davis that were grown on 
grafts only four years old that were so fine in shape 
and color that I did not know what they were. These 
trees stood in an open maple grove, and averaged a 
barrel to a tree of fruit perfectly free from scab, 
worms or rot. The trees stood among stone and 
rocks so thick that no sane man would ever dream 
of trying to clear the land of them, much less think 
of plowing. I noticed that the trees had a stunted 
look and were small in body and short-limbed, as 
though they had a hard time of it to get enough to 
eat. in my county the trees grow immense quanti¬ 
ties of wood, and it is expensive keeping them 
trimmed properly, but these would not bother that 
way, I am sure. Every young tree along the stone 
wall was covered with fruit which was extremely 
high colored, and in many cases very large, which, 
although it was late in November, still hung to the 
tree, there being but little on the ground. This would 
indicate that where the “signs” were right there 
would be plenty of fine fruit without cultivation. 
Every plant when placed where food is scarce makes 
an effort to perpetuate its species, and will be full of 
blossoms where we would expect barrenness. Too 
much food produces an ovei’growth and unhealthy 
conditions, which prevent a strong de¬ 
velopment of bud growth. The result¬ 
ing fruit is off color, rots quickly, and 
falls early in the season. 
I talked with an apple buyer who 
packs many thousand barrels every 
year, and learned that in many orchards 
he did not have to throw out over 15 
per cent of the fruit when packing No. 
1, and when sprayed not that; yet I 
could not find that anyone cultivated 
the orchards. The King, Hubbardston, 
Spitzenburg, iialdwin and Greening all 
have an oily feel to them that makes 
one know, instinctively, that they will 
keep all Winter. The only drawback 
that I found was the so-called scab on 
the skin of the fruit, no doubt much 
more prevalent on account of the ex¬ 
tremely wet season. It shows as a dis¬ 
coloration of the skin, but does not go ■ 
deeper, doing no harm to the quality 
but hurting the sale. These orchards 
stood in grass,the hay was drawn off, 
and when the question was asked: 
“What do you do for your orchards in 
this section?” the reply was “Nothing, 
and that is what is the matter with us.” This would 
indicate that they are not satisfied with their yields, 
while 1 would be “tickled to death” if I could grow as 
good. 1 have an orchard that was set out 25 years 
ago along the roadside, which has never been culti¬ 
vated in that time, and it has not borne fruit enough 
to pay for tbe aimual pruning, devoting its time to 
growing wood. The trees are magnificent specimens, 
but so far a disappointment. The grass has died 
down under them every year, and I cannot see w'hy 
I have not been following the Hitchings method all 
right, but I do not get results as he does. From ob¬ 
servation I have come to the conclusion that these 
trees need working among and mineral fertilizers. 
GOATS IN A NEW ENGEAND PASTURE. Fig. 1. 
Some trees standing in a hogyard where the soil is 
all worked over, every week, all Summer, have been 
loaded with fruit several times. The humus is worked 
out of the soil and the nitrogen is not so plentiful 
after a few years of hog culture, and there is less 
growth of wood, and more buds are formed, I have 
noticed these trees for several years and believe I 
would get plenty of good fruit if I could put them all 
in a “hog lot.” As 1 cannot the next best thing to do 
is to reduce the soil by constant cultivation to barren¬ 
ness, and apply ashes or potash and phosphoric acid. 
The old remedies such as driving nails into the 
bodies, cutting of the roots and checking the grow+h 
are a recognition of the principle, although modern 
horticulture gives no recognition to such methods. 
Four years ago I grafted a good many of them to 
other kinds, as I had been told this would cause them 
to bear, or rather that the grafts would bear sooner. 
This year I picked a peck of good apples from one 
graft, but it did not shame the rest of the tree into 
doing anything. All orchards in this immediate 
neighborhood are in sod, and there is not one that is 
profitable, even where sheep and hogs are kept in 
them, and nothing is taken off, not even fruit. It is 
very evident that the “sod” method is not the thing 
for this locality. There are no orchards standing on 
the same kind of soil and at the same altitude, that 
are cultivated, to compare with ours, so I cannot say 
cultivation would make matters any better, but at 
Itbaca there are large crops grown in cultivated or¬ 
chards. The soil is h^eavier and the lake may have an 
influence on the climate. I shall in the future culti¬ 
vate a part of my orchard at least, and either succeed 
in growing some good apples or cut down the trees. 
The advocates of “high pressure” methods will claim 
that with the cover crops they do not rediu;e the 
humus in the soil, but if they don’t they do soihe- 
thing to it which alters the texture; and I noticed 
many orchards in the fruit belt of T>ake Ontario that 
are very productive, that do not show any superfluous 
growth. As compared to ours they are unhealthy- 
looking. We need more light on the subject of mak¬ 
ing orchards more remunerative. c. e. chai’.man. 
Tompkins Co., N. Y. 
Non-Cultivation in the Southern States. 
I was much interested in Prof. Waugh’s article on 
page 831, preceding volume. We have heard very 
much on the other side for some time and I am sat¬ 
isfied from my own experience and observation that 
much harm has been done in the Southern States by 
a few magnifying some isolated examples of the bene¬ 
fits of non-cultivation, thereby causing those with¬ 
out much experience to draw general conclusions and 
leave their orchards uncultivated. Dur¬ 
ing the past 10 years I have traveled 
through several Southern States ones 
or twice each year, and am convinced 
that this tendency is growing. Weeds, 
grass, diseases and insects are strug¬ 
gling with the trees for supremacy in too 
many instances. I have never seen an 
orchard look well that was grown on 
the non-cultivation theory. I have also 
been in the Stringfellow orchard, near 
Galveston, Tex., where the southern 
champion of this system got his enthu¬ 
siasm. The orchard was about 10 years 
old when I last saw it. It was a good 
pear orchard, but had been cultivated, 
for the marks of the implements were 
plainly visible. In fact, I don’t think 
Mr. Stringfellow ever claimed the or¬ 
chard was not cultivated. However, 1 
believe the Stringfellow orchard was 
left uncultivated in later years, after 
the trees were nearly matured. The 
soil had been made rich by the applica¬ 
tion of tons of cotton-seed meal, so I 
was informed. Sub-irrigation was with¬ 
in about 10 feet of the surface in that 
low, level coast country. The rainfall was usually 
very heavy. In the dry climate of Iiampa.sas, Tex., 
Mr. Striugfellow’s experiments in uou-cultivatiou 
seem not to have been promising, according to bis 
own statements pubiished in several issues of Thk 
R. N.-Y. Now, white I know Mr. Stringfellow well 
and like him and appreciate his ability’ as a writer, 
ANGORA GOATS FOLLOWING THE SHEPHERD. Fig. 2. 
