1900 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
735 
A TRIP AMONG FARMERS. 
With Open Eyes and Ears. 
PART II. ‘ 
A ONE-SIDED FARM—My next call was at the 
home of a hay and grain farmer. This man keeps 
only enough cows to supply the family with milk and 
butter and grows no fruit, apparently not even for 
home use. "Vegetables seemed to fall in the same cate¬ 
gory, for when urged by his mother to sow some tur¬ 
nips he argued that it was too late, and that it would 
do no good, for the hens would scratch them all up 
anyway. The money crops are hay and grain. The 
owner considers them more profitable than dairying, 
with less hard work; yet a comparison of the sur¬ 
roundings with those of the other farms visited did 
not seem to bear out his opinion. Inquiry showed 
that he had no system in mind whereby to maintain 
the fertility of his land under such treatment. 
A STONY FRUIT FARM.—A few miles farther 
brought me to Orchard Farm, the home of George T. 
Powell, at Ghent. Owing to Mr. Powell’s absence and 
the fast waning day, only a cursory view of this place 
could be taken. I was impressed with the entire dif¬ 
ference between this farm and Mr. Van Alstyne’s in 
the nature and contour of the land. The land is very 
rolling or hilly, and largely composed of red shale. 
Yet the vigor of the trees and the character of the 
fruit left no doubt regarding its adaptability to fruit¬ 
growing. All the fruit plantations are given the best 
of tillage, and certainly show the results in the great¬ 
er vigor and luxuriance than was seen where trees 
grew in sod. The land is made to do full duty by 
growing currants and other small fruits among the 
young trees. A fine strawberry bed, kept in huls, was 
noticed on land so stony that many growers would 
doubtless think it entirely unsuited to the crop, yet the 
plants themselves seemed to offer no 
objection. Formerly dairying was a 
prominent feature on this farm also, 
but latterly it has been given over al¬ 
most entirely to fruit. It is a farm on 
which many things of value may be 
learned. I regret not having had more 
time there. 
SPRAYING BLOOMING TREES — 
During a brief halt at the Geneva Ex¬ 
periment Station a striking evidence of 
the injury wrought by spraying trees 
while in bloom was seen. Prof. Beach 
had sprayed adjacent trees, and in 
some cases parts of the same tree, with 
Bordeaux Mixture, when in bloom. In 
every case where this had been done 
very little fruit was to be found, while 
the check trees or parts of trees not so 
sprayed were well filled. The fruit¬ 
grower cannot afford to spray trees at 
this time, even if he cares nothing for 
the welfare of his friends the bees, or 
the interests of their owners. Photo¬ 
graphs may fail properly to impress 
these results when they come to be 
published, but the trees themselves make them very 
emphatic. 
RESTORING A WORNOUT FARM.—Om other 
farm which interested me is being managed by two 
young men, with some advice from outside. The farm 
has been virtually in the hands of renters for 25 years, 
with the usual result that buildings, fences and land 
are badly out of repair. These young men are making 
an honest endeavor to succeed, but they have made 
some mistakes, and some things have been beyond 
their control. The first and most serious mistake was 
the failure to realize the importance of tillage, a 
mistake doubly serious because the season Las been 
an unusually dry one. A peach orchard, planted with 
care in the Spring, had been left without cultivation, 
and many of the trees were dying for lack of mois¬ 
ture. Corn was struggling with weeds for the scanty 
moisture, which was far too little for either. Sugar 
beets were searching in vain for moisture wnich weeds 
had been allowed to pump from the soil while await¬ 
ing a tardy destruction. Meanwhile all these plants 
missed the dust blanket which should have been 
spread about them to prevent the atmosphere from 
drinking out the moisture from beneath, through the 
countless straws or tubes which capillarity is wont 
to provide. The second mistake, scarcely less serious 
than the first, and somewhat interdependent upon it, 
had been the failure to do things at the right time. 
The ground for oats had been thoroughly well pre¬ 
pared, yet only a light crop had been harvested, be¬ 
cause they were sown nearly a month later than they 
should have been. The corn was small and poor, be¬ 
cause of late plowing and planting, without sufficient 
after-tillage to firm the soil and put it in condition to 
absorb moisture from beneath and prevent its escape 
from above. These mistakes were, in part at least, 
the result of conditions, a. late Spring and extra 
work interfered with the regular farm operations, but 
Nature is inexorable, and takes no account of ex¬ 
cuses. The belated crop of the industrious suffers 
as much as the belated crop of the shiftless. I believe 
that the ability to do things on time is one of the 
most important factors in successful farming. 
Another feature which seemed to need strengthen¬ 
ing in ihe administration of this farm is the ability 
to utilize time to the best advantage and concentrate 
it on the important issue in hand. Interruptions ap¬ 
peared to displace the main work too easily. A manu¬ 
facturer would not shut down his mills for such ex¬ 
cuses as often stop the farm machinery. In spite of 
these weak points the farm shows honest, faithful 
effort. Some unsightly things have disappeared, farm 
appliances have been added and conversation with 
the manager revealed well-developed plans for the 
future. Such failures in management as have been 
mentioned should in time disappear or grow less, and 
the farm will stand ready to reward the effort. Soy 
beans growing on this land for the first time without 
soil inoculation of any kind, show a few well-devel¬ 
oped tubercles. The proper bacteria could not have 
been entirely wanting, although a Soy bean had ap¬ 
parently never been seen in the neighborhood before. 
Pigs relisn the plants, and they appear to be well 
worth considering in planning for pasture to make 
pork. FRED W. CARD. 
WHOLESALE DRAINAGE SCHEMES. 
Many of our readers have only a local conception of 
the vast importance of drainage. Some farmers dig 
ditches through their wet land, put in tile or stones 
and observe the advantage of controlling the soil’s 
moisture. They do not understand, however, what 
it means to drain an entire county or section of the 
State. The picture shown at Fig. 281 is reengraved 
from the Drainage Journal, and shows a wonderful 
A STEAM DITCHER AT WORK. Fig. 281. 
machine which has proved remarkably effective in 
some parts of the country. As will be seen, this ma¬ 
chine is really a house boat, containing the power for 
working a dredge or “steam Irishman,” as it is often 
called. This machine cuts a ditch or tunnel through 
swamps or other low ground and is floated by the 
drainage water which flows in behind and around it. 
In fact, it really digs out a river, scooping out dirt, 
stones and even small trees at a wonderful rate. Such 
a machine will do the work of a full gang of men, and 
also work in places where men could not possibly op¬ 
erate. By means of these immense dredges large 
tracts of land have been drained and made fit for the 
plow. In some places these great canals are cut out 
to afford an outlet for drainage water which runs into 
them through open ditches or lines of tile. As is well 
known, there are large tracts of swampy lands left 
in the country. They have never been worked be¬ 
cause they are too wet, and yet they comprise some of 
the richest soil to be found on the continent. For 
many centuries these swamps have received the drain¬ 
age from the hills, and have stored up fertility just 
as though thousands of farmers had been hauling 
manure down to them. When these swamps are ditch¬ 
ed and drained they open up this fertility to farm 
crops. For example, a scheme is now on foot for 
draining the Everglades of Florida. If this can be 
done, millions of acres of the finest land in the South 
will be opened up for settlement. Most of the land in 
Florida is too thin and poor to produce ordinary crops 
well, yet this vast tract of Everglade land, if it can be 
dried out, will change the whole future of the State. 
This is but another illustration of the possibilities of 
doing small things on a large scale. The chances are 
that instead of attempting to irrigate the arid deserts 
there would be more profit in draining the large 
swamps east of the Allegheny Mountains, and putting 
thqm into profitable cultivation. 
PEACH-GROWING ON THE HILLS. 
Taming a Mountain Wilderness. 
Part II. 
For many years the Delaware Peninsula was re¬ 
garded as the ideal home of the peach. The level 
tracts of light land produced this fruit to perfection. 
The “Delaware peach” became the standard of quality 
and size. Many good judges now agree that the glory 
of Delaware as a peach-growing State is departing. 
Disease and insect pests have obtained too strong a 
footing. Many of the old orchards are now failing, 
and few, if any, are being replanted. There is a gen¬ 
eral feeling that the land should go out of peaches 
for some years at least. Small fruits and Keiffer 
pears will pay better, and much of the soil may well 
be given to asparagus and other vegetables. Horti¬ 
cultural information now travels rapidly, and the peo¬ 
ple on these lower levels feel that the Delaware peach 
must take a back seat, and give way to the fruit from 
the hills. 
Men who have made a life study of such things say 
that the future peach growing will be confined to a 
comparatively few sections. That is the tendency 
with all productions that depends largely upon skill 
and natural conditions. We see the growers who sup¬ 
ply the bulk of our apples, potatoes, grain or dairy 
products settling almost by instinct upon the best 
soils or localities for these crops, in like manner the 
steel and iron works, the cotton factories and the 
wood-working shops find the places where they can 
do their best work, and congregate there. Following 
the same law peach growers who seek to do a whole¬ 
sale business will go to the place where land is cheap, 
where there is least risk from disease and frost, and 
where good shipping facilities are possible. 
Mr. Hale thinks that the hills of New England offer 
equally good opportunities. There are 
cheap lands in Connecticut and Massa¬ 
chusetts within easy reach of the best 
markets of the world. Why go 100 
miles away to grow peaches when they 
can be grown within 25 or 50 miles of 
the people who are to eat them? Most 
of the “abandoned-farm” land in New 
England is better suited to the apple 
or pear than to the peach. It will cost 
less to start in the Allegheny Moun¬ 
tains, the soil is, on the whole, better 
adapted to peach growing, and as it is 
cleared from the forest is stronger. The 
risk from frost is much less on the 
mountains. Only once has the crop 
been severely hurt. 
Many of us have been taught to be¬ 
lieve that the peach tree is a delicate, 
tender thing that must be petted like 
a child. Something of this may be true 
of the trees that produce the prize 
crops that we read about, but these 
mountain orchards are full of tough 
hustlers. There were excellent trees 
growing over long hillsides, stretching 
down the mountains at an angle of 40 degrees. In 
some places great pieces of rock weighing 50 pounds 
or more had been pulled aside, so that the tree might 
be set, and then piled around it. About the only tool 
that can be used in such places is the spring-tooth 
harrow. The Miller Brothers keep their orchards re¬ 
markably clean. Mr. E. A. Pry, of Keedysville, Md., 
sows cow peas in all young orchards. I thought I 
knew the hustling qualities of the cow pea, but it was 
a revelation to see it growing among rocks and 
stumps where hardly any soil was visible. Mr. Pry 
said that he preferred cow peas to chemical fertilizers. 
This has been an unusually dry season, and most of 
the mountain peaches were smaller than usual, but I 
thought Mr. Pry’s fruit seemed larger than the others. 
I should say that his cow peas provide more nitrogen 
for the trees than the other growers were giving in 
manures or fertilizers. The best trees we saw were 
in a smaller orchard belonging to W. D. Hughes, who 
is the pioneer of mountain fruit-growing in Mary¬ 
land. h. w. c. 
Lime Sulphur Wash.—I see In your paper of Septem¬ 
ber 29, page 656, that T. A. S. wants a remedy for San 
Jos6 scale. It seems strange to me that your people do 
not try the lime, sulphur and salt wash, which seems 
to be a complete success in this country. It is an ex¬ 
pensive wash, hard to make, and disagreeable to handle, 
but it will surely do the work. We would not think of 
taking out trees here to get rid of San Jos6 scale. 
Santa Ana, Cal. i. n. r. 
R. N.-Y.—This wash has not proved so useful in our 
Eastern climate. 
Fine Peach Growing.—I have seen to-day the re¬ 
sult of what careful, painstaking work will do in growing 
peaches. A friend of mine in the Hudson Valley, who 
has thinned his peachees thoroughly this year, cultivat¬ 
ing and feeding his orchards, has received from $2.50 to 
$4.50 per Georgia carrier for his fruit when his neigh¬ 
bors who wanted to get two crops off their land by grow¬ 
ing currants amongst the trees, have had to sell their 
fruit at less than half his prices. One week’s shipment 
from this orchard brought $675, an average per case of 
$2.75. These cases contain a little less than 14 quarts. He 
has no complaint to make of fruit growing. 
F. A. TABER. 
