546 
August 1 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
planted the following Spring. Of the 3,300 imported, 
2,800 were of one variety, Virgalieu. This old variety 
proved unsatisfactory, and the trees were worked over 
to Duchess and Anjou by top-budding. They were 
set orig-inally 10 x 10 feet apart. When they began to 
crowd the alternate diagonal rows were taken out, 
leaving the remainder approximately 20 x 20 feet 
apart. This orchard is on light clay loam, quite 
stony. It has been under some sort of cultivation 
from the outset. It has never been cropped. Occa¬ 
sionally it has been seeded down to clover for a 
season or two. Fertilizer, mostly in the form of barn¬ 
yard manure, has been applied as for ordinary farm 
crops. In the matter of pruning, the trees have been 
headed back annually, but have not been arbitrarily 
sheared to a given line, as is too often practiced in 
western New York. A certain amount of thinning of 
the branches has also been practiced. Some atten¬ 
tion has been given to the renewal of fruit spurs. 
This orchard has given large returns, and is to be 
reckoned a profitable investment. One year the yield 
amounted to 800 barrels of fruit, which sold for the 
large sum of $5,000. In the old days the crop was 
shipped to New York via Erie Canal. Now the fruit 
is rushed to market or storehouse by fast freight. 
Angouleme (Duchess) has proved to be the money¬ 
maker. Flemish Beauty, an old-time amateur variety, 
is susceptible to scab and does not sell well. Anjou, 
in this orchard, has not made a good record for pro¬ 
duction, and drops its fruit easily. Since spraying 
came in, early in the nineties, the orchard has re¬ 
ceived its annual dose of Bordeaux with an arsenite. 
Some of the trees are now practically on their own 
roots. These are readily detected by their larger size. 
While a few old settlers have been removed, the or¬ 
chard is essentially intact to-day, and apparently good 
for many years to come. This orchard stands as a 
very practical illustration of the influence of a sensi¬ 
ble appreciation of the needs of fruit trees. 
Cornell University. John craig. 
4 MONUMENT TO PROF. E. S. GOFF. 
At the last annual meeting of the Wisconsin State 
Horticultural Society, a significant remark was made 
by a prominent fruit grower; that the “hundreds of 
young orchards of Americana plums in Wisconsin and 
the adjoining States stand as a living monument to 
Prof. Goff.” The marvelous improvement which has 
been made in the native plum, both as to its size and 
quality in the very short period of time, stands with¬ 
out a peer in the horticultural history of America. 
The lack of hardiness and the general scarcity of all 
other kinds of fruits, and the abundance of wild plum 
thickets which were thrifty and fruitful, no doubt 
gave the impetus to this movement. In an old report 
of the Iowa Experiment Station, dating back more 
than a decade and a half ago, we And six varieties of 
the Americana plum, mentioned as representing the 
m\)st important varieties extant at that time. In the 
recent Plum Book by Prof. Waugh there are de¬ 
scribed over 150 authentic varieties of the Americana 
plum. Such has been the increase within the last 
two decades. Nor has it been a mere duplication of 
synonyms and multiplication of names. They repre¬ 
sent a solid and substantial improvement in the 
amelioration and development of this important fruit. 
The superior quality of some of the more recent in¬ 
troductions, such as Terry and Brittlewood, indi¬ 
cates that we have by no means reached the limit 
as yet. Out of this large list of varieties we have 
forms of the native plum, which are well adapted to 
the gradations of soil and climatic conditions found 
throughout the Northwest. There is no one fruit so 
generally successful in the section named as the 
native plum. 
As indicative of the conditions in this respect, one 
or two experiments may be cited. In Bulletin No. 81 
of the Minnesota Experiment Station, regarding fruits 
tested at the NorUiea!..L Minnesota Substation, at 
Grand Rapids, Minn., on^ of the most severe sections 
of the State, Mr. Chapman says: “The varieties of 
American or native plums are nearly all perfectly 
hardy here, and will grow upon sandy soil as well 
as clay. They will succeed, therefore, in many places 
where apples and many fruits fail. The best plum 
tested here was the Cheney, both in earliness and 
size. It will ripen in any season. * * * • It is 
recommended that a wide use be made of these plums, 
as the chances of failure are very small.” W. M. Bom- 
berger, one of the largest growers in the milder sec¬ 
tions of southern Iowa, says: “After 15 years’ ex¬ 
perience with the various types of plums, including 
the Japan and European, we have abandoned them all 
in favor of the Americana type.” 
In the life of every successful man there is some 
one problem which he champions above all others. 
Prof. Goff, whose portrait is given at Pig. 204, was one 
of the flrst to foresee and appreciate the possibility of 
the Americana plum, and the position it was destined 
to All in the Northwest. His voice, both by pen and 
platform, has probably done more than that of any 
other one man toward bringing before the public and 
creating an interest in the planting of the many ex¬ 
cellent varieties originated in this region, all of 
which have been of profit to the multitude of home¬ 
makers in the Northwest. a. t. erwpn. 
Iowa Exp. Station. 
CRIMSON CLOVER AT THE NORTH. 
Useful in New England. 
In New England, Crimson clover sown in corn after 
final cultivation will prevent washing of land that 
will occur when land is left clean of weeds and grass, 
and prove when the corn is off in the Fall splendid 
pasture especially for horses, as it has no seeds or 
blossoms, and the animals are very fond of it. 
Connecticut u. s. h. 
Leads to New Orchard Method 
I have raised Crimson clover for a cover crop for 
10 years, and with entire satisfaction. The secret of 
success on northern farms is on land that has re¬ 
ceived the highest tillage. I use it in orchards, in 
corn, potatoes, and in the garden; also in small fruits, 
such as curi'ants and raspberries. We sow 12 to 15 
pounds of the seed per acre, and have never had a 
failure. To make sure of keeping the ground cov¬ 
ered during the entire Winter, we now put in one- 
quarter of Red clover seed, as occasionally the Crim¬ 
son will freeze out during the Winter. Last Spring 
the drought began eo early, we delayed plowing until 
it became so difficult that we let the clover grow. 
After the rains came, the soil was so very wet we 
could not plow to advantage. The seed had formed 
THE LATE PROF. E. S. GOFF. Fig. 304. 
and partly ripened. The harrows were put in and the 
soil thoroughly stirred, with the result that from two 
up to four bushels of seed per acre were dragged and 
scattered about, and the orchards very heavily seeded 
again. As we are after humus, we shall ~et it this 
time. We can see no ill effects from thp crop growing 
through the drought period, when we are usually cul¬ 
tivating, and this circumstance may change our entire 
practice in 'orchard management. The large amount 
of humus which we have been adding to the soil may 
have prevented any injury from this growing crop of 
clover even to maturity. We can stir the surface soil 
by harrowing' after heavy showers, dragging down 
from one to two tons of clover per acre, and re¬ 
seeding so heavily we may obtain a modified Hitch- 
ingis system, with a large amount of mulch material 
combined with some surface tillage. This raises again 
some quite new problems, and we shall be glad to 
report the results as we find them. We are satisfied 
that since we began using Crimson clover we have 
improved the farm 100 per cent in productiveness, 
and at a very small cash outlay. 
Columbia Co., N. Y. geo. t. poweix. 
For Soiling in New Jersey. 
We have grown Crimson clover three years as a 
soiling crop. It now fills a permanent place in the 
rotation. This year the clover was fine. It cut more 
green fodder than any crop raised this season, in 
spite of five weeks’ drought. In milk-producing quali¬ 
ties, it is the equal of Red clover or green sweet corn. 
Red clover has been abandoned in favor of Crimson 
clover, it being more reliable. After sowing it differ¬ 
ent ways, we have found it pays best to sow 
it alone, giving the ground thorough preparation in 
plowing and harrowing. We find the clover roots 
deeper and it stands fro'st and dry weather better than 
when sown on corn stubble or in sweet corn. The 
yield of Crimson clover in plowed land has been more 
than double that in stubble, in the last two years, 
which have been dry in Spring. It should always be 
sown before August 14, to get a good crop. c. o. 
Bergen Co., N. J. 
Hard to Make "Catch." 
The only even fair crop of Crimson clover that 1 
ever succeeded in getting was sown with buckwheat 
on light soil. I had one other seeding with buckwheat 
that was a good catch, but killed in March. I never 
succeeded with it sown with corn. What about Spring 
vetch as a crop to sow in orchard to plow under. Do 
they not grow quicker than Winter vetch? The latter 
seems to take fully as long as clover, with me, to get 
its growth, and it seems not to amount to much unless 
given fully as long to grow. Some sown June, 1902, 
is in full blossom now, and has been so for a month. 
Greene Co., N. Y. s. n. 
Cow Peas in Pennsylvania 
I have a farm in Chester Co., Pa., adjoining the one 
I reside on, which was rented for several years. The 
last year of the term the tenant broke up 40 acres for 
corn and left it in bad shape. I took it into my own 
hands again. This Spring I plowed this stalk ground 
early and kept it well harrowed until the first week 
in June. I then drilled with an ordinary wheel drill, 
using all of the tubes, 40 bushels of cow peas and Soy 
beans mixed half and half, together with 200 pounds 
of fertilizer. I used the Early Black cow pea, and the 
Early Yellow Soy bean. The seed cost me $1.25 per 
bushel in Baltimore. My object in using the Soy 
bean was to have another legume with a stiff stalk 
to assist in carrying the cow pea off the ground. The 
first appearance of the growth was disappointing; the 
weather was wet and cold, and they looked very thin 
on the ground; besides, the crows, pigeons, blackbirds, 
sparrows and doves, all together, attacked them in 
flocks as soon as they came through the ground. The 
doves were the worst, coming from I cannot imagine 
where, as they are a comparatively rare bird in this 
section. I had to keep a man with a gun for more 
than a week, watching the field until the second leaves 
started; after that they did not trouble them. At the 
present date, six weeks after planting, the ground is 
completely covered about 18 inches in height. It looks 
like an even race so far between the beans and the 
peas. A few weeds have started, but they will soon 
be smothered with the growth of the peas. As this is 
the first experiment with cow peas in this section, 
they attract considerable attention, and as the field 
is alongside of a very public thoroughfare, the com¬ 
ments of the farmers and others passing are somewhat 
entertaining, as few seem to know what is growing 
in the field. I will report to you again when I am 
ready to harvest this crop'; and in the meantime per¬ 
haps some of your correspondents can give me some 
pointers as to the best way of curing them, as I have 
a dairy of 50 cows, looking with some curiosity over 
the fence at them now. j. h. b. 
Thornbury, Pa. • 
1.4.NKEE HAY T.OADER.—Set your team about six 
or eight rods from the corner of the lot; draw the hay 
with the horserake to the wagon, and fork it on. One 
man will pitch on the hay about as fast as it can be 
drawn around with the rake, until perhaps you get one- 
half or one-fourth acre cleaned; then move load or part 
load to another plot. This plan avoids what I call 
chasing the meadow as usual, as flrst rake into wind¬ 
rows, next chase the windrow's to heap them up; next 
chase all over the meadow with team to gather the 
heaps, then rake the meadow about all over again to 
get the scatterings. I would abo-ut as soon rake the hay 
flrst to the wagon and have the raking flnished as ordi¬ 
nary to chase over the meadow three times and then 
have to rake it all over again afterwards. As the load 
remains stationary the pitcher can place the hay in 
forkfuls around the load like bundles of grain, and 
occasionally get up on the load and stamp it down. It 
saves about the time of a loader. h. e. p. 
Stevenson, Conn. 
WHAT FARMERS NEED.-After about 60 years upon 
the farm, In three localities, I have come to the conclu¬ 
sion that what the farmer needs most Is sufficient faith 
to believe that timely and thorough cultivation with suf¬ 
ficient fertilization is his only salvation. It may safely 
be said that the practice of this faith would bring him 
out of the “Slough of Despond” Into the land of milk and 
honey, and at peace with all the world. Now for the 
proof. One evening, on my way to the Grange, I saw 
a piece of corn that stood 3% to four feet high, of a deep 
green color, with the blossom just appearing at the top. 
Just over the fence on similar soil (sandy gravel) of a 
neighbor was another field of corn about eight Inches 
high, evidently not following the rule above. Again, on 
a piece of grass this year one-half was hardly wbrth cut¬ 
ting, while the upper half, lying below an open ditch 
with conduits to distribute the water ov'er the surface 
from a barnyard for years past, resulted in a tangled 
mass of rank clover fully three weeks earlier than the 
other. It Is unnecessary to multiply cases, but well to 
bear in mind that certain causes bring certain results, 
in farming as in all other fields of work. p- "W- c. 
