5o 
THK RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
January 24 
stored-up fertility from the soil as effectively as will 
plowing. If these two questions can be answered in the 
affirmative we will gladly go into partnership with na¬ 
ture, and do less cultivating and more mowing. 
It seems to me that our experiment stations or 
agricultural colleges might easily determine the com¬ 
parative supply of moisture in the soil under the two 
methods of management, and might possibly tell us 
as to their relative efficiency in liberating plant food. 
1 believe the Ohio Experiment Station has for several 
years been conducting such an experiment, but how 
many branches of the question they are studying, or 
what progress they have made I do not know. My 
own practice has been to grow small fruits or vege¬ 
tables (the latter preferred) in the orchard until of 
bearing size and age, and then seed down for a year 
or two to clover, especially if the trees were growing 
quite freely and seemed slow in forming fruit buds. 
This usually had a tendency to form fruit buds, and 
the clover increased the supply of humus in soil when 
plowed under. Thereafter I cultivated thoroughly 
during the fore part of the season and grew a cover 
crop later. I think many make a mistake in plowing 
orchards too deeply. I do not like to use the ordi¬ 
nary turning plow in a bearing orchard, but prefer 
the gang plow and disk and spring-tooth harrow. 
Sec’y Ohio Hort’l Society. w, w. farnswokth. 
Another Thought About Mulching. 
I can easily conceive the spirit in which Prof. 
Waugh made his protest against the agitation of the 
HitchIngs method (page 831, last volume). He fan¬ 
cies he sees the result of many years of teaching in 
jeopardy. But he writes on the assumption that the 
sod method will encourage slovenly and negligent 
habits in orchardists. I cannot agree with him in 
that. The two systems demand an equal amount of 
intelligence and care for their successful execution. 
In either case there will unfortunately be only a small 
minority of fruit growers who will do perfect work. 
The man who has the energy to maintain a dust 
mulch will be smart enough to provide a grass mulch. 
After all, the spraying of the trees is as important as 
any other work, and is required equally under both 
systems. I submit that a man who sprays thoroughly 
and conscientiously will do the other part of the work 
In the same spirit. Though I have nothing in experi¬ 
ment to offer, I should not hesitate to adopt the 
Hitchings method on a large scale, and in preference 
to any other. There is nothing mysterious about it. 
Every action and its result is capable of a clear scien¬ 
tific explanation. 1 approve it especially because it is 
less artificial and nearer to nature’s method. Thor¬ 
ough cultivation means bare soil and a rapid deple¬ 
tion of humus, and that means that manure or com¬ 
mercial fertilizers must be resorted to; and while an 
orchardist may be perfect in all else, he may make 
the fatal error of allowing his soil to grow poorer and 
poorer. From my observations in this section, star¬ 
vation is the bane of the farmer’s orchard, and while 
miscellaneous farm crops have made the soil about 
the trees red and thin, their owners are lamenting the 
good old days when it was no trouble to grow good 
apples. Though an educator has spent a life-time in 
teaching a certain system, he should be progressive 
and public-spirited enough readily to admit the merits 
of a new system, even If he realizes that it is destined 
to supersede what he has spent so many laborious 
years in upbuilding. The spirit of our age is prog¬ 
ress, and one step soon finds itself under the heel of 
another. l. r. j. 
Cape Girardeau, Mo. 
Advice from Personal Experience. 
Mr. Powell is right (page 17) when he suggests at¬ 
tacking the subsoil first. In my opinion the character 
and mechanical condition of the subsoil is more im¬ 
portant to an apple tree than the surface soil. The 
subsoil should be open so as not only to allow water 
to pass down freely and thus prevent the collection of 
stagnant water about the roots, but also to allow 
water to pass up to the roots by capillary action dur¬ 
ing the dry months. By combining the excellent sug¬ 
gestions of Messrs. Powell, Waugh and Card, drain¬ 
ing, plowing shallow, cultivating thoroughly, ferti¬ 
lizing with barnyard manure, acid phosphate and 
muriate of potash, then plowing in Mammoth clover; 
then plowing, fertilizing and cultivating again; scrap¬ 
ing the trees and washing with weak lye, and spray¬ 
ing thoroughly and systematically; keeping up this 
system for about three years, then after the trees have 
begun to show new life and have borne a crop of 
fruit following Mr. Hitchings’s plan partially or in 
full, this orchard may be brought into profitable bear¬ 
ing provided the varieties are right. There is no use 
attempting to do anything with the orchard unless 
he is willing to do most thorough work, and continue 
in a systematic way for a series of years, and this 
will be expensive. I think before spending any money 
on this orchard he should know to a certainty that 
the trees are all desirable market varieties. From 
his description of the soil and the lay of the land, the 
site is evidently not an ideal one for an orchard. If 
in addition to this he has only low-priced apples he 
may find himself in the position of having the wrong 
tree planted in the wrong place, in which case the 
best he can do is to get a whole lot of high-priced 
experience out of his orchard, as I have done. 
An investigation of the fruit industry in Pennsyl¬ 
vania during the past Summer has brought out the 
fact that very little attention was paid to the selec¬ 
tion of varieties in this State 25 years ago. There 
being few commercial orchards, farmers depended 
largely upon the traveling tree peddler for advice, and 
as a consequence were induced to plant a great many 
varieties, mostly of kinds that were unsalable else¬ 
where. A very large proportion of the apples in the 
older orchards of the State are kinds that do not sell 
well in the general market now, because we have 
better ones, and unless “Reader” knows that at least 
four-fifths of the trees in that orchard are desirable 
market sorts, my advice would be to sell the timber 
for saw frames and chisel handles, and plant a young 
orchard on a more favorable location, selecting only 
a few varieties that do well in his neighborhood and 
are in demand at top prices in the general market, 
and then whether he mulches or cultivates he should 
/ceep the hogs out of the orchard. It may be “a cheap 
method of tillage,” but is very unsatisfactory. A hog 
never does exactly what you want him to. 
Dauphin Co., Pa. GABRim. hiester. 
THE PALMER GREENING APPLE. 
'J'he pictures shown on the first page, Fig. 22, were 
made from samples sent us by H. O. Mead, of Lunen¬ 
burg, Mass. Mr. Mead is an expert fruit grower, who 
writes as follows about this variety: 
The Palmer Greening, or Washington Royal, is a 
high quality fruit and should be grown only as des- 
AYRSHIRE cow LILY AYR 13994. Fig. 33. 
sert apple, or to be eaten out of hand. The tree is a 
moderate or weak grower, and should for best results 
be top-worked upon some of our more thrifty varie¬ 
ties. It requires high culture, as with neglect it 
makes a poor showing. The fruit is of medium size, 
greenish yellow color, and a slightly reddish cheek 
when well grown. It is a fine keeper, and in condi¬ 
tion to eat from Christmas until Decoration Day. For 
a light-colored apple it is one of the best to handle, 
as it does not show bruises very easily, and where 
known is always in demand as an eating fruit. It is 
not tart enough for cooking purposes, unless very 
early in the season. The No. 2 fruit has little value. 
The tree is also inclined to produce too large a pro¬ 
portion of such fruit. For best results thinning is a 
necessity. If the grower will produce only first-class 
fruit (and the tree will generally produce some fruit 
every season), and pack in bushel boxes or other 
small packages, I see no reason why he should not 
obtain profitable results, but as a commercial variety 
with the cultivation and care generally given by our 
New England growers I do not believe it will prove 
as profitable as more thrifty and robust varieties, 
like Gravenstein, Baldwin and some others; yet there 
may be localities where it will prove as profitable as 
these varieties, but not here, as bright red apples of 
poorer quality bring as much or more in our market 
than the Palmer, as grown by average growers. 
THE EDUCATED DOG.—The picture shown at 
Fig. 24 is taken from the circular of Dr. S. R. How¬ 
ard, Hillsboro, 0. Dr. Howard wrote the excellent 
article on horses’ teeth printed last Fall. We are 
often asked where Fox terrier dogs can be obtained. 
They are seldom advertised as other breeds are, yet 
they are seen everywhere. We find hundreds of them 
in the city, where they are kept as pets. They are 
such nervous, high-strung creatures that one would 
hardly consider them well adapted to “fiat life,” yet 
many of them are there, fat and frisky—far better 
off than many babies. 
OROWINO APPLE SEEDLINGS. 
Will you Rive us some short, practical Information 
about how to grow apple seedling's up to the. time they 
are fit to set out In the orchard? T have started or at 
least planted some seed in shallow boxes, with good hot 
horse manure underneath covered with about three Inches 
of mellow earth. u- u- 
Fredericton. N B. 
Apple seeds are best planted in well-manured soil 
in rows three feet apart as soon as collected. They 
may be kept over until Spring in boxes of moist sand 
in a cool place. Freezing does not harm them, but is 
not necessary if kept below the germinating tempera¬ 
ture. Apple seeds will stand considerable drying, but 
if allowed to get too hard germination will be very 
irregular. In a small way the seeds may be grown in 
pots four or five inches deep, but your shallow boxes 
are not well suited for them. The seedlings do not 
transplant very kindly, and they sometimes blight 
or “damp off” very quickly when grown in shallow 
receptacles. The soil can scarcely be too rich for 
apple seedlings when grown in the open, but if sown 
in pots or boxes ordinary light garden soil is best. 
The little trees should stand about six inches apart 
when thinned or transplanted. If wanted for stocks 
they may stand as closely as two or three inches. 
Very thorough cultivation should be maintained up 
to August to encourage all possible growth. Stocks 
should be ready for use in one season’s growth, 
though some weak plants may need another year, but 
seedlings for top-grafting or for fruiting in hope of 
useful new varieties may stand in seed row two or 
more years to reach convenient size for planting out. 
ALL SORTS. 
A MICHIGAN APPLE HOUSE.—In response to the 
inquiry from West Virginia concerning a storage 
building for apples, I send a description of one I have 
which was built 19 years ago, and has given good 
satisfaction ever since. The building is 20x60, and 
built in the side of a hill. The basement wall is of 
masonry two feet thick. There are six nine-inch 
sewer tile through the wall at each end under the first 
floor, which is raised about 30 inches from the ground 
and is made of lx3-inch pieces laid one-half inch 
ajiart, making a slat floor. There are also eight-inch 
(ile along the side walls just under the second floor, 
which is slatted like the first floor. The second story 
is frame, with 10 inches of sawdust packed in and a 
six-inch dead-air space inside of that. Overhead 
there are about two feet of sawdust. There are three 
12-inch pipes running from near the ceiling of tho 
second story up through the roof; these pipes have 
tight-fitting dampers in them, and by means of them 
and the tile flues, which have removable caps, we 
regulate the temperature by ventilation. The door to 
the basement is in the west end, and to the second 
story on the south side. This building will hold 1,500 
barrels of apples in bins. If the doors and windows 
are properly packed there is no danger of freezing. 
Although the mercury has gone 34 degrees below zero 
here, we aim to keep the temperature of the building 
as near freezing, and not freeze as we can while we 
are using it; this we do by ventilation, w. e. c. m’c. 
Hudson, Mich. 
TOBACCO DUST FOR MELON VINES.—An Indi¬ 
ana reader of The R. N.-Y. writes me that he haa 
had a terrible fight with the striped beetle on melons, 
the past season, but has never used tobacco dust, and 
knows of no one handling it in his vicinity. The 
questions are: What does it cost? How much is re¬ 
quired for one-half acre of melons? How should it be 
applied? Many of our seedsmen keep it in stock, 
often selling it in small quantities at from five to 10 
cents a pound. I have usually paid about $2.50 or $3 
per barrel for it. There is a great deal of difference 
between different samples, and some of them I find 
much more effective than others. I know of no stand¬ 
ard of quality, and there is no assurance that, wher¬ 
ever you may obtain it or what you pay for it, it is 
the best or the same that you bought of the. same 
persons before. It is not impossible that in some 
cases materials may have been mixed in that which 
proved injurious to some plants. A barrel will go 
over several acres. How many will depend on the 
length of the period and severity of the attack. I 
apply it by hand, sometimes with a garden trowel, 
dipping the dust up from a pail held in the left hand. 
I use the material very freely, covering small plants 
entirely over, and repeat frequently. In a time of se¬ 
vere visitation of striped beetles all our energies and 
ingenuity are taxed to the utmost to conquer the 
enemy, and frequently we come out second best in 
the fight. A mixture of tobacco dust and bone meal 
(dust) has in my experience proved more effective 
than either material alone. But eternal vigilance, 
i. e., frequent and liberal applications, is the price 
of comparative safety, t. greiner. 
