Vol. LXII. No. 2790. 
NEW YORK, JULY 18, 1903. 
II PER YEAR. 
SOME YOUNG FARM STOCK. 
SAD EXPERIENCE WITH SIIETEANDS. 
Does It Pay To Raise Colts? 
While the Jerseys are the most talked about in pub¬ 
lic they are not the chief product at Hickory Hill 
Farm, but only a by-product with which to feed the 
“main crop,” the four youngsters whose pictures are 
shown in Pig. 191. Believing that the farm makes the 
best home on earth, and that the farmer may be just 
as much of a business man, a gentleman and even a 
world power as any other man, I would like to have 
these children grow up with a love for the farm and 
with the idea that farming is the best occupation on 
earth, and that the farmer is the equal of any man— 
provided that he makes himself so. With the idea of 
stimulating a fondness for animals, a few years ago I 
bought a pretty little Shetland pony for the boys, and 
as he cost a nice little sum, I thought it would be well 
to have some to sell in the future, so I added a couple 
of mares. Before long I began to learn more about 
Shetlands, and to understand 
why they could not be bought 
at the price of sheep. My 
largest mare pi’oved to be a 
non-breeder, which 1 am told 
is quite common among these 
ponies. The other one in due 
time presented us with a nice 
little colt, which made a great 
pet for us all. This colt being 
a horse, we also sold. As our 
stallion grew older he became 
very much of a horse, al¬ 
though he was but 40 inches 
tall. He would bite and strike 
in the stall, and rear and 
plunge when led out, but be¬ 
haved very well in saddle or 
harness. The little boys stuck 
to him bravely and would not 
own that they were frighten¬ 
ed, but they kept away from 
him as much as possible, so 
having a chance to sell him 
to a breeder of Shetlands I 
did so. We all became very 
much attached to the little 
mare that was left; but she 
also became unsafe for the 
children to ride or drive. 
They would use her with ap¬ 
parent safety for a while, 
when someday, without a moment’s warning, she would 
run like a streak of lightning, perfectly uncontrollable 
and perfectly regardless as to where she went. She 
ran with the boys two or three times, and as they had 
become quite expert drivers they managed to keep her 
clear of obstructions until she had her run out. Then 
I took her in hand and drove her about on level tracts 
(she weighed but 300 pounds, and was not flrst-class 
for hills), for a while. She seemed very gentle and I 
began to think she only needed steady usage. But 
one evening I started with her for the mail, when sud¬ 
denly she doubled up in a heap, with her head down 
against her breast, and proceeded to give me the wild¬ 
est ride I ever took in my life. The road had been 
late “worked”, which consisted of heaping it up in the 
middle like a house roof with sods and stones for 
shingles. And the way that cart jumped and bounded 
was a caution; I managed to keep on the cart, and 
after she had run about half a mile she settled down 
and was a nice little “child’s” pony again. After this 
we concluded that she was better to feed apples and 
sugar to than to drive, so she had a very nice easy 
time of it, but one morning I found her rolling with 
colic or something else, and in spite of medicine she 
died in a few hours. With all her “tricks and her 
manners” everyone of us was very sorry when she 
died, but it was probably a good thing, for sooner or 
later she would have fooled us into trusting her 
again, and a bad accident might have been the 
result. 
When I got these ponies I was particular to get 
small ones. But the next pony venture will be on a 
larger scale. The very small Shetland is only useful 
to the very small child, and these are hardly capable 
of handling a horse. I have seen several of these very 
small ponies that seemed to be big horses boiled down 
and with all the vim and energy of the big horse con¬ 
centrated in their little hides. 
As I am started on the horse question I will tell 
about raising colts from a mare that is one of the 
team. I had a large young mare, 16 hands tall and 
about 1,200 pounds weight, that I thought would raise 
a nice colt. This mare was one of my work team, but 
I have heard so many times that a mare could raise 
a colt “just as well as not,” and that every farmer 
ought to do his work with brood mares and sell all 
the geldings, that I concluded to try it. The mare 
was used all Winter and started the Spring’s work, 
but she steadily grew poor in spite of all she would 
eat, and kept failing in energy also, so I bought a 
“plug” horse to help her out. She dropped a nice 
straight colt the latter part of April and did a little 
work through the Summer. While the mare was 
working I kept the colt in the stable and took the 
mare to the colt in the middle of the forenoon and 
again in the afternoon. This was much trouble, but I 
think it was better than letting him follow. He grew 
into a nice little fellow and brought $50 in the Fall. 
“Well, how could you make $50 easier?” the man 
who likes to buy our colts asks. 
Make $50! I paid $10 service fee, and lost $15 on 
the “plug” horse besides his keep for two months, and 
I had only about half of a horse to work for about 
eight months. I traded the brood mare for a young 
gelding weighing about 1,300 pounds, and this Spring 
my team has earned $45 drilling grain for the neigh¬ 
bors, some of those who are making money (?) rais¬ 
ing colts. J. GRANT MORSE. 
TURF CULTURE OF ORCHARDS. 
RESULTS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 
Thorough and Persistent Work. 
I have been very much interested in the discussions 
by various correspondents and editorials in The R. 
N.-Y. on orchards in grass. As I look at the matter, 
orchard culture resolves itself in the question of how 
best to secure a proper supply of moisture and plant 
food. I have often made the assertion that from 
three-fourths to nine-tenths of the apple trees in this 
State are now growing in grass. In soils that are 
naturally rich and moist fruit of a high quality is 
often grown with the application of very little plant 
food other than that coming from the decaying or¬ 
ganic matter that grows on the land, and what may 
be washed from the adjoining surface. When a rea¬ 
sonable amount of plant food 
is applied to trees, in natural¬ 
ly good apple soil, in the form 
of stable manure or special 
fertilizers and a mulch is pro¬ 
duced by cutting the grass 
that grows upon it and allow¬ 
ing it to remain there, all the 
growth of tree is made that 
is needed, and as large and 
perfect fruit is produced as 
from trees under constant cul¬ 
tivation. Under these condi¬ 
tions the trees are likely to be 
more hardy, the fruit of high 
color, firmer in texture, and 
of better fiavor and long keep¬ 
ing qualities. The trees can 
also be grown with lower 
heads, so that pruning, spray¬ 
ing, thinning and harvesting 
can be done better and cheap¬ 
er, and there is less danger 
from loss during high winds. 
There are many other ex¬ 
amples to be found of suc¬ 
cess in fruit growing under 
these conditions besides that 
of Grant G. Hitchings, so 
often mentioned, as well as 
of success under the constant 
cultivation method, and the 
question every grower must decide for himself is which 
of these systems is best adapted to his conditions. One 
illustration of this method in this State stands out so 
prominently that 1 will mention it here. A. A. Mar¬ 
shall, of Fitchburg, has a peach orchard of about 7,000 
trees, ranging from one to five years old, growing in 
grass land that is not especially favorable for the 
growth of this fruit, either in soil or exposure, which 
is one of the most perfect orchards to be found in the 
country as to vigor of growth, perfection of form of 
trees, and every evidence of culture; many of these 
trees have made shoots the past season from four to 
six feet in length. This orchard produced a large 
crop of the choicest fruit found in the Boston market 
last season, the best grades of which sold for $2.50 per 
14-quart basket, notwithstanding the fact that there 
was the largest supply of native fruit ever known in 
the market at the time. Luther Burbank, the noted 
horticulturist of California, after a visit to this or¬ 
chard in the Fall of 1901, said: “There may be better 
orchards than this in the country, but I have never 
had my attention called to one superior to this.” 
