Vol. LXII. No. 2768 
NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 14, 1903 
«1 PER YEAR. 
WAKING UP A LAZY ORCHARD. 
HOW A WESTERN NEW YORK MAN DID IT. 
Culture and Cover Crops. 
AN UNPROFITABLE ORCHARD.—I was much in¬ 
terested in the orchard problem presented in The R. 
N.-Y., issue for January 10, as the conditions there 
given are much the same as those I ran up against 
on a much smaller scale in my own orchard; and, as 
concrete results rather than theories appeal to most 
of us, particularly when they seem to support those 
theories, I may be excused in giving an account of 
what has been done. My orchard consists of about 
100 trees; 70 Baldwins, 20 Greening, and 10 Russet. 
These trees run from eight to 14 inches in diameter, 
all except 10 or 12, which are too small to cut much 
figure as yet. It was set 27 or 28 years ago. Up to 
1898 it was kept most of the time in grass which was 
cut for hay. It had been pretty well pruned but that 
was all. With us the apple crop had come to be a 
standing joke, one year we picked four bushels, an¬ 
other seven. In the whole life of the orchard I doubt 
whether 200 barrels, largely very inferior fruit, had 
been gathered. 
STIRRING IT 
UP.—The soil is 
mostly stiff red 
clay with some¬ 
what lighter soil 
in the hollows, 
and is rather low 
and wet natural¬ 
ly. It had been 
plowed late in 
the Fail of 1897, 
and the following 
Spring was culti¬ 
vated up to about 
July 1, when 
Dwarf Essex rape 
was sown. This 
made a fine 
growth in the re¬ 
mains of that old 
sod. Since then 
we have plowed 
and c u 11 i vated 
each year, plow¬ 
ing either in Fall 
or Spring as con¬ 
venience and the 
nature of the 
cover crop seemed to dictate. Rape, rye and Crimson 
clover have been sown on different years as cover 
crops; none of them is entirely satisfactory alone. 
This year I sowed Crimson clover and have a good 
.rtand, except on the hardest clay, where it is most 
needed. I am thinking of trying both rye and Crim¬ 
son clover next year, hoping that the rye will occupy 
the clay, while politely giving place to the clover on 
the lighter soil. Canada peas have been used quite 
successfully by some orchardists in our section. Most 
of the wet spots have been tile-drained, but some of 
the trees were so badly damaged by standing half the 
year in mud and the other half in cement that they 
will never amount to much apparently. 
FEEDING AND SPRAYING.—Acid phosphate was 
‘ilJplied at the rate of 400 or 500 pounds per acre last 
year and three years ago. I expect to keep this up 
each year hereafter with the idea of inducing annual 
hearing. Phosphoric acid seems to be the only ferti¬ 
lizer to bring returns on our soil, to judge by repeated 
experiments on wheat and cabbage. However, to 
make sure, I am treating a little block of trees with 
muriate of potash, 200 pounds to the acre, each year, 
but with no decided re.sults as yet. The orchard has 
been sprayed each year with Bordeaux Mixture and 
Paris-green just before the. blossoms open and just 
after they fall, which seems to be sufficient to insure 
good fruit. We hear considerable complaint this year 
of the failure of Bordeaux to protect, but from my 
B K B K B F B 
F A F A F A F 
B F 11 F B A F 
F A F A F A F 
B F B F B F B 
own experience I would think this was due largely to 
carelessness in the preparation or application of the 
spray. In picking we found that the fruit on the 
lower branches and on the smaller trees was almost 
entirely free from fungus, while that in the centers 
and tops of the larger trees, where the spray from 
our Vermorel nozzle failed to reach, was badly spot¬ 
ted with it. The trees are pruned a little each year 
to rid them of water sprouts, thin out some of the 
smaller branches where necessary, and top oft any 
which have grown too low to allow of cultivation. 
RESULTS.—The yield of barreled fruit, aside from 
paring and cider stock, for the past five years has 
been approximately as follows: In 1898, 70 barrels; 
1899, 290; 1900, 50; 1901, 170; 1902, 180; total 760 bar¬ 
rels. Not a very startling showing to be sure, but 
still rather an improvement over the old returns. All 
but about 150 barrels were Baldwins. A glance at 
the yield for different years offers a suggestion as to 
the odd-year Baldwin we heard so much about last 
Winter. A few trees bore well in 1898, the year cul¬ 
tivation set in, and have borne each even year since. 
The majority bore heavily in 1899, apparently as a re¬ 
sult of the cultivation the year before, they bloomed 
full again in 1901, but owing to continued rains, set 
quite thinly. The larger yield in 1902 was not due so 
much to a general return to even-year bearing, as It 
was to the heavy yields on those trees which began 
bearing in 1898. Barring the effect of frost and 
storms at blossoming times, it would seem that by a 
judicious management of the fertilizing and tillage. 
it would be possible to induce alternate bearers like 
the Baldwin to produce on any year desired, or even 
to overcome the habit and induce fair crops every 
year. It seems to me that Prof. Waugh is right in 
the warning he gives. The mulching system is beau¬ 
tiful. It is nice to read about, and is easy. It saves 
a lot of work and a lot of moral courage; for it re¬ 
quires moral courage to take a team out of the potato 
or cabbage field, just before planting, to harrow the 
orchard after a rain. If one has a soil in which he 
can depend on a supply of moisture both to grow his 
mulch and to keep his trees thrifty, mulching is prob¬ 
ably the ideal method. But if on the other hand one 
has to deal with clay soils and impervious subsoils, or 
if his trees have grown to occupy most of the land, 
which is long before most of us suspect it, I believe 
the mulching idea will prove a delusion and a snare. 
WHAT ABOUT THIS PLAN?—I expect to set about 
eight acres to apples next Spring and would like the 
criticism of apple men on the plan I propose to fol¬ 
low. I have lots of faith in the Baldwin apple in this 
section and on clay soils, but it is not an early bearer, 
and if planted alone I should have to wait 15 years to 
get much return. 
Mr. Willard and 
Prof. Beach rec¬ 
ommend Sutton 
Beauty, Rome 
Beauty and Boi- 
ken. Now a man 
ought to be open 
to conviction, but 
he ought not to 
believe every¬ 
thing he hears 
until he can 
prove it, no mat¬ 
ter who says it. 
So 1 propose the 
scheme repre¬ 
sented in diagram 
which ought to 
please everybody, 
and give me an 
orchard that will 
pay its way early 
in life. 
R r e p r e sent-s 
Baldwins set for 
permanent trees 
40 feet apart. F 
represents fillers 
to be cut out as soon as it becomes necessary. A rep¬ 
resents what might be called alternates, made up of 
Sutton Beauty, Rome Beauty, Boiken and perhaps 
other promising varieties which have not been tested 
commercially in this vicinity. These are to be left 
after the fillers are cut out, and if after a few years, 
any or all promise to be superior to the Baldwins, 
they can be left and the Baldwins sent to the wood 
pile. As the trees will stand about 28 feet apart after 
the fillers are cut out, there will be opportunity for 
a pretty thorough test. For fillers I think of using 
Wagener and Wealthy. Bismarck and Missouri Pip¬ 
pin have been recommended. Does anyone know any¬ 
thing of them as commercial varieties in western New 
York? Is the Wealthy likely to be too much of a Fall 
apple to be profitable? It seems to be an early bearer. 
I have a little tree, four years from the nursery, 
which bore a peck of fine fruit last Fall. Of course 1 
expect to give the land clean culture, growing some 
hoed crop between the trees for the first few years, 
and I suppo.se it will be necessary to fertilize more 
heavily than would be the case if the trees were set 
at the ordinary distances. w. o. biteli,. 
Ontario Co., N. Y, 
THE TOP AND THE MIDDLE OP A BARREL OP APPLES! MATTHEW 23:27. PiG. 38. 
