3i8 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
1 
i 
May 3 
even more of the last year’s growth, while some 
branch may have grown so little that in order to have 
it come up with its brothers we may cut back but 
very little, or even nothing at all. henry r. wxbth. 
JOBS FOB AGRICULTURAL GRADUATES. 
About three or four years ago some one wrote to 
The R. N.-Y. complaining that he couldn’t get any 
agricultural college graduates to work for him in his 
market gardening. He intimated very broadly that 
the college graduates were not looking for anything 
that would soil their hands. Two agricultural college 
teachers from widely separated States replied in al¬ 
most the next week’s paper that they could send him 
a limited number of graduates by return express if 
he was willing to pay the ruling wages for that class 
of labor. The gentleman was not heard from further. 
Evidently he decided that a raw Irishman or Italian 
would suit him just as well. But I have often thought 
of him, especially when, as has been the case almost 
weekly for the past two years, we have had to turn 
away applicants who were anxious to pay the ruling 
prices for college graduate labor. We simply haven’t 
had one-tenth enough men to fill the orders. The 
graduate, just fresh from the classroom, is not a 
master workman. He is not likely to be thoroughly 
experienced in practical affairs. But he usually has 
had his wits sharpened, and is able to understand a 
new situation much more quickly than the man who 
has had only the practical training. Moreover, most 
young men in college, quite contrary to the notions 
of some folks, gain a wholesome respect for work and 
an honest ambition for success which are worth more 
than any amount of experience in milking cows or 
potting geraniums. 
I have known a considerable majority of the men 
who have been graduated from the agricultural course 
of the University of Vermont State Agricultural Col¬ 
lege; and so far as I know, not one of them is out 
of employment or ever has been for any length of 
time. With one solitary exception every man of them 
could be highly recommended to any employer. The 
single exception is a young man whose personal 
habits are objectionable. Many of the men are doing 
splendid work in various lines in all parts of the 
United States. At the present time our difficulty is 
in keeping men here till they are graduated. Every 
man who is really honest, careful and intelligent (n.ot 
rare gifts those) has a place waiting for him. It may 
be said, on the basis of our experience, that an agri¬ 
cultural course, backed by reasonable character, is a 
guarantee of a, good opening in life. We don’t guar¬ 
antee positions to our graduates, but we could do it 
just as well as not. Under these circumstances it 
seems to me strange that a larger number of ambi¬ 
tious boys do not take the agricultural courses. 
F. A. WAUGH. 
CARE OF ORCHARD. 
Grant G. Hitchings, on page 245, makes a pretty 
good showing of the advantages of the mulch method 
of orcharding. But believing with him that “the best 
way to increase profits is to lower cost of production” 
let us compare my method of making a sheep pasture 
of the orchard, and see whether the sheep have not a 
very great advantage over his mulch method. He 
says it costs 70 cents per acre to cut the grass and 
place it around the trees—pretty cheap. Besides this 
he, of course, has to allow for interest of values, or 
use of land. Add to these the expense of getting rid 
of fallen apples infested with the Apple maggot and 
Codling moth. Further than all this, the orchard 
must be fed. He can’t continue to take crops of apples 
out without putting something back. Grow what he 
will upon the land, he adds nothing except nitrogen 
to the soil, and unless he in some way adds potash 
and phosphoric acid to the orchard in time his crops 
will fail. Now putting all these items together quite 
a pretty sum will be the aggregate amount which will 
appear on the debit side of his ledger. 
Let us now look at my sheep pasturage method. I 
put 10 sheep on an acre of orchard; to hire those 
sheep pastured will now cost me 50 cents per week, so 
instead of hiring them pastured I confine them In the 
orchard and feed 50 cents’ worth of wheat bran a 
week. Bought when it ought to be this will give each 
sheep a pound of bran each day, with which they will 
thrive better than on any man’s pasture. The sheep 
will keep all grass, weeds and sprouts eaten close to 
the ground. They will eat every fallen apple the mo¬ 
ment it drops, and before any insect has time to es¬ 
cape. I am now getting my sheep kept in the orchard 
and of course should credit the orchard with 50 cents 
per acre per week, for say 16 weeks, or making a re¬ 
turn of $8 per acre. Besides this, the manure made 
from the 1,100 pounds of bran fed those sheep will 
leave about 25 pounds of nitrogen, 30 pounds phos¬ 
phoric acid and 16 pounds potash per acre—worth to 
purchase about $6. Of course it will cost no more to 
spray with the sheep in the orchard than without 
them, but I firmly believe that where the orchard is 
treated with sheep as indicated it will be very much 
less liable to the attacks of disease, as I believe much 
of the prevalence of mildew and fungus is due to soil 
exhaustion, and that to restore the soil to its original 
fertility would greatly lessen these attacks. I am ab¬ 
solutely sure that with no other orchards near enough 
continually to reinfest with Codling moth and Apple 
maggot I can entirely rid an orchard of these pests 
with a flock of sheep. With the Hitchings mulch 
method we are annually a good deal out; with the 
Woodward sheep pasturage method a good deal ahead 
in each year. Surely then the sheep method is the 
better. J. s. woodward. 
THE MOHOCACY APPLE. 
Now and then we find a new fruit that is worthy of 
more than ordinary notice. In my travels in western 
Maryland last Winter I found samples of a fine Win¬ 
ter apple that at once attracted my attention. They 
had been grown in the vicinity of Woodsboro, and 
upon inquiry I was told that there were several or¬ 
chards in that county (Frederick) where they were 
growing, and that there was no Winter apple, except 
it be the York Imperial, that was so well liked. I 
also learned that it is being called “the Smith apple” 
by some who know no better name for it, and that 
some New York nurseryman has obtained scions and 
is propagating it under this name. This is much to 
be regretted, because there is an old and well-known 
variety which has that name properly belonging to it, 
and this new use of the name for another, and I feel 
sure a better apple, will cause confusion and doubtless 
lead to many mistakes, some of which will prove 
very harmful to planters. 
The original tree, so I was told by citizens of Fred¬ 
erick County, is an accidental seedling which came 
up near Thurmont, Md., and proving to be a very 
abundant bearer and the fruit desirable, scions were 
taken from it and grafted into neighboring orchards. 
It gradually became known over a rather wide region, 
and a Mr. Livingston Smith took scions to near 
Woodsboro, in the same county, where the neighbors 
have since called it Smith, after this man. It is there 
that I saw it first, and the accompanying illustration, 
Fig. 120, was made by me from an average specimen 
obtained there. On returning home to Washington. 
D. C., I found that the same variety had been re¬ 
ceived from western Maryland by the Division of 
Pomology, and by the Government Pomologist named 
Monocacy, after the river by that name in the region 
of its origin. This name seems altogether fitting, 
and should replace all others. 
The fruit is of medium size, roundish in shape; pale 
yellow ground color well covered with abundant and 
quite distinct red stripes and some mixed or diffused 
red; the cavity is of medium size and depth, but high¬ 
ly russeted; stem, medium length and slender; basin 
rather deep and wavy; calyx, large and open. Inside 
the apple is greenish yellow, fine grained, tender 
fleshed and juicy. The flavor is very pleasant subacid 
and agreeable. It would at once be considered a good 
apple when eaten. The immense crops which the tree 
bears, and their regularity together with the attrac¬ 
tiveness of the fruit and late keeping make the variety 
well worthy of trial. h. e. van deman. 
INVEST MONEY IN THE HOUSE. 
I wish to commend the good sense in F. G.’s article, 
page 226, about that first Happy Farmer. The bill of 
fare as given in the first letter was read by me, and 
Mrs. B.’s only comment was: “I am afraid he thinks 
more of his appetite than he does of his wife.” But 
maybe Mrs. B. is not competent to judge. You see 
Mrs. B. doesn’t have a hired man to board, and has 
got into the way of setting a simple t^ble, eyep oX 
times omitting altogether the sweet desserts. She also 
is unacquainted with the daily care of milk and but¬ 
ter utensils. For years, too, we have been able to 
boast of a water front to our range, with the resulting 
conveniences, such as a bathroom, kept warm and 
serviceable in Winter when of most service. The 
whole expense of such an attachment to a house is not 
beyond the means of any ordinary farmer, yet it is 
so often looked upon as a luxury tnat few country 
people have it. Exclusive of our own labor making 
new drain and board of plumber six days, the whole 
cost of materials and work was less than $125. Now, 
every man to his own notion, but I wish to propose 
the business proposition to that large class of intelli¬ 
gent R. N.-Y. readers, who in these prosperous times 
are making and saving money, that they will find no 
investment so safe and yielding larger increment than 
to repair, rearrange and fix up their own houses and 
barns, so as to facilitate the work of the household, 
or the work about the barn, work which comes 365 
times a year. r. j. b. 
Peterboro, N. Y. 
SMALL SILOS WANTED—We use small silos lOx 
28 feet because we prefer them to large ones, for in 
feeding enough is removed each time so it will not 
hurt in moderate or warm weather. I would not in 
any case build over 12 feet in diameter. Our first 
pair of silos are situated at end of feeding alley out¬ 
side of barn proper, and at the gable end. We built 
these silos, and after filling, we built around them, 
covering with shingle roof and covering sides and 
ends with matched lumber so it rarely freezes. After 
using these a year results were so satisfactory that 
we put up another, same size, in small 12-foot bay 
across barn floor. After further experience we con¬ 
cluded that we would prefer more silo room than we 
needed rather than less, and built another, and expect 
to fill all of them this year. The silos are conveniently 
located, one setting of engine and cutter for each 
pair, and with portable engine it is not much work to 
move. Since the advent of silos and Winter dairying 
the proceeds from dairy have doubled. Last Fall we 
cut two loads of green and wet Alfalfa and elevated 
into silo with corn at the bottom and corn above it. 
It came out well preserved, and we may in the fu¬ 
ture use Alfalfa for silage to some extent, as well as 
for hay and soiling. We expect to drill from two 
to 2% bushels of beardless barley and at least 25 
pounds Alfalfa per acre, using weeder over Alfalfa. 
When we have sown Red clover we have used one- 
half bushel per acre. The stalks grow smaller for 
being thicker, and are eaten better. We think the 
same with Alfalfa. We use Dwarf Essex rape for 
pasture for calves and swine. o. e. m. 
Fillmore, N. Y. 
' t 
ALL SORTS. 
MICHIGAN NOTES.—March was like April usually is, 
the robins and bluebirds being here March 10. Plowing 
has been in full swing for some time, oat seeding gen¬ 
eral, a larger acreage than usual being sown; corn grow¬ 
ing has had an impetus given it by the high prices of the 
Winter, and a larger acreage than usual will be put in. 
Wheat has wintered in good condition; the majority was 
late sown on account of the fly, but is looking green and 
healthy now. Rye is in good condition and promises an 
early harvest. Meadows will be light unless we have 
plenty of rain, as we have no new seeding; it burned in 
the dry weather of last Summer, and the old meadows 
were pastured too close in the Fall. Prices are good in 
all farm produce. Apples are out of sight; Ben Davis 
is about the only variety left, which retails for $175 per 
bushel. Potatoes have ruled high, running between 65 
and 85 cents per bushel. There will be a large acreage 
of early potatoes planted this Spring. w. B. 
Stanwood, Mich. 
PEAS FOR TENNESSEE.—In The R. N.-Y., page 252, 
is an article on “best garden” peas. Nott’s Excelsior is 
spoken of as one of the best earlies, and a standard sort 
in the trucking regions about New York. I have tried 
this pea four years in succession alongside such varieties 
as Rawson’s Clipper, Gregory’s Surprise and Gradus, and 
have not found it the equal of any of these sorts, In any 
way except In the quality of the few peas I did get. The 
vines grew weak and spindling, and with only a few small 
pods to a plant, while alongside, under same conditions, 
the others named did finely. The Gradus has done bet¬ 
ter for me than any pea that I have ever tried, outyield- 
ing them all, and growing a perfect mass of long, well- 
filled pods, with peas of first-class quality. I would not 
plant the smooth sorts at all. I can plant the Gradus 
as early here as any of the smooth sorts, and it is only 
a very few days later in maturing. It is surely an ac¬ 
quisition among peas. The Clipper has matured for me 
in a shorter period of time than any other pea, but being 
a smooth pea, I have no use for it since the Gradus has 
appeared. Peas are one of my favorite vegetables, and I 
have tried nearly every standard and new sort on the 
market, but am better satisfied with the Gradus than 
any other. I do not try to raise any late peas, as they 
do indifferently, and we fall back on beans at the time 
late peas would come in, and get three times the yield 
over the peas. I depend entirely on the earliest. I am 
going to try the Gradus planted in August this year, and 
see what I can do with it. e. e. e. 
Washington Co., Tenn. 
