Vol. LXII. No. 2792. NEW YORK, AUGrUST 1, 1903. per year. 
water, and to that extent is an advantage. We have 
thought that such a sod holds water in the soil, and to 
some extent, prevents evaporation of water from the 
subsoil. This decaying sod cloise to the surface seems 
to attract and hold many of the grass roots. We 
feel quite sure that in the Clark method of destroying 
the Bod, the grass roots much deeper, and this we 
believe is one reason why the Clark meadows will 
endure longer and give better returns in an unfavor¬ 
able year. 
Regarding the last question, we are certain that 
when a sod is turned under eight inches deep and not 
fully killed out, the weeds and foul grasses will surely 
make their appearance later. That has been our ex¬ 
perience invariably. A thick seeding and heavy fer¬ 
tilizing will give the new grass the 
advantage for a time, but unless the 
old sod is thoroughly destroyed you 
will hear from it again. You must 
remember that when a farmer plows 
under a sod and plants corn and 
then potatoes before seeding to 
wheat and grass, he works the soil 
with plow, cultivator and hoe about 
as often before grass seeding again 
as Clark recommends for killing the 
old sod. It is all very well to plow 
under a sod for corn planting, for 
the cultivator and the hoe will keep 
the weeds down, biit it is a very dif¬ 
ferent thing to plow under an old 
meadow and sow grass seed, for 
there is no way of killing out the 
weeds in a hay crop. We must also 
remember that an old meadow is far 
more foul than grass land in a good 
rotation. Still, it must be said that 
there are farmers who do not agree 
with this. We will give the opinion 
of one of them next week. 
H. w. o. 
FAMOUS ORCHARDS. 
A VENERABLE DWARF PEAR ORCUARD. 
A Half Century of Usefulness. 
What a pity it is that accurate his¬ 
tories of noted orchards are seldom 
available. Records of the treatment 
and behavior of orchards covering 
half a century are almost unknown, 
while those covering a quarter of a 
century are quite rare, yet how valu¬ 
able such stories might be. Too 
often the exception is emphasized 
and conclusions drawn from insuffi¬ 
cient data. Generalizations can be 
drawn with safety only from a large 
mass of facts. Why should not or- 
chardists preserve an accurate record 
of the treatment of their orchards year by year, coup¬ 
led with a statement of returns and climatic condi¬ 
tions? An “orchard log” of this kind would in time 
become very valuable to the owner, and other or- 
chardists of the locality. 
Some little time since the writer had the opportunity 
of looking over the extensive fruit plantation of T. G. 
Yeomans & Sons, in Wayne Co., N. Y. A wealth of 
pomological information is stored up in the past his¬ 
tory of these plantings, most of which is fortunately 
recorded. Among the many striking features of in¬ 
terest on the estate is a venerable dwarf pear or¬ 
chard which may now be said to have an almost 
National reputation through the writings of L. H. 
Bailey. The trees composing this orchard were im¬ 
ported in straw bales from France in 1851, and 
A VETERAN DWARF PEAR TREE. Fig. 203. 
Ex-President L. T. Yeomans of the New York State Fruit Growers at the Right. 
''CLARK” GRASS CULTURE. 
INTENSIVE CULTURE, HEAVY SEEDING, HEAVY FEEDING. 
Turning Soil Up vs. Turning If Over. 
Part i. 
We have retold the story of the Clark grass culture 
so many times that it seems impossible to say any¬ 
thing new about it. There are results enough now in 
sight to bring out a full discussion of its merits or 
demerits. Geo. M. Clark, of Higganum, Conn., has 
produced for years the largest crop of hay on record. 
So far as we are Informed, no one has beaten him on 
an equal area. Mr. Clark claims that his results are 
obtained by carefully following a well-defined system, 
the more important features of which may be thus 
briefly stated, though other essentials 
must be considered: 
1. The most thorough preparation 
of the soil; no “nurse” crops. 
2. Very heavy seeding with even 
distribution. 
3. Large applications of chemical 
fertilizers. 
“Thorough preparation,” as most 
farmers understand it, would not suit 
Mr. Clark at all. He will not use the 
ordinary turning plow in fitting sod 
ground. The plow, he says, simply 
turns the sod upside down. The sur¬ 
face is then harrowed, but the old 
sod, full of roots of weeds and foul 
grass, is not damaged. It is out of 
sight, but in time the foul stuff will 
grow and occupy the meadow. The 
“Clark” method is the reverse of 
plowing. He uses a Cutaway harrow, 
which, as most farmers know, is com¬ 
posed of disks with saw-like notches 
cut out. As these are hauled over the 
sod, well weighted down, they kick or 
thrust, ripping off pieces of the sod 
and tossing them loosely to the sur¬ 
face, instead of turning them under. 
This is just what Mr. Clark wants, 
since he claims that such working 
and tossing is the only way thor¬ 
oughly to kill out the old sod. He 
aims to work the ground in this way 
30 or 40 times, and then follow with 
a tooth harrow and a grader before 
sowing the seed. As the preparation 
of the soil is the most important part 
of the plan just now, we will consider 
it first. Here is a statement from a 
grass farmer in Massachusetts, which 
raises questions that have been stud¬ 
ied by many farmers. Mr. Clark’s 
plan of chopping up the soil instead 
of turning it over seems so strange at 
first thought to many that it is hard 
to secure even a trial of it because farmers have used 
the turning plow so long that they will not believe its 
work can be done by any other tool: 
I have 50 acres of meadow land which has not re¬ 
ceived much attention for the last 15 years. I tiled part 
of it last year, turned it over and sowed to Winter rye. 
which crop I am about to cut. I want to seed it to Tim¬ 
othy and Red-top according to Ciark this Fall, and 
thought instead of plowing again this year would harrow 
until September with doubie Cutaway, as I am afraid 
some of those tough sods would bother if turned up 
again. Do you think it better to harrow sod iand before 
turning over? I wish to raise hay to sell only, and want 
as much as can be raised with as little expense. Do 
you think his idea of turning over sod cuts off subsoil 
water? Do you think that when sods are turned under 
eight inches and seeded heavily (harrowed and fine seed 
bed made) that the foul meadow grasses will come up 
through and displace the new seed if they get a start. 
If a permanent meadow is wanted, we should fol¬ 
low Clark as closely as possible. If the field were 
part of a rotation to be plowed every two or three 
years, we question the wisdom of spending the labor 
and time which Clark advises. It must be remem¬ 
bered that Mr. Clark’s hay field is not in a rotation, 
as many meadows are. We certainly think that, other 
things being equal, a seeding on the Clark plan will 
cut good grass longer than one where the sod is 
turned over and left undisturbed. If August should 
prove as wet as June and July, it would not be pos¬ 
sible on our own farm, to follow Clark’s methiod suc¬ 
cessfully. There would be times when the sod could 
not be worked for a week, and the Cutaway would 
simply transplant weeds and foul grass instead of 
killing them. It is true that the plow would do no 
better, but we must remember that dry, hot sunshine 
is necessary to carry out the Clark plan of killing 
the old sod by tossing it out and not burying it. 
Since we have had so much wet weather, we now 
expect a dry August, and if we wanted a permanent 
meadow we would use the Cutaway as long as any 
green plant showed in the field. You must remember 
that if you start this plan you must be thorough, and 
carry it out in every detail. To start the Cutaway 
and stop short of Clark’s tillage will not give as good 
a seed bed as plowing and surface harrowing will 
give. If you are to use the Cutaway at all, you will 
do better to use it before plowing, rather than after. 
When a sod is turned under and packed down with 
harrow and roller, it forms a sponge or reservoir for 
