Voi. LXI No. 2732. 
NEW YORK, JUNE 7, 1902. 
II PER YEAR 
A VERMONT MAN DISHORNING BALDWINS 
CUTTING OUT FILLERS. 
How the Plan Usually Works. 
That system of orchard planting which provides 
for temporary “fillers” between the rows of perma¬ 
nent trees has been frequently recommended and oc¬ 
casionally practiced in this country. The arguments 
concerning the merits of the system have often been 
emphasized, some men claiming it to be the only rea¬ 
sonable method, others insisting that it is wrong in 
theory and a failure in practice. Curiously enough, 
however, the main arguments have not been drawn 
from observation in the orchard, but from what this 
or that man thought might happen un¬ 
der such a system. 
The one great objection to the plan of 
using fillers has been that the fruit 
grower would not cut them out at the 
proper time. “Oh, yes, it would be all 
very well if a man would cut out the 
fillers when the trees begin to crowd; 
but he won’t do it.” That is the argu¬ 
ment. That is to say, the ordinary man 
has not the gumption to do what he 
knows is for his own interest. For my¬ 
self I have more faith in the ordinary- 
man. This Spring I visited an orchard 
which I have often visited before, and 
found something bearing on this point. 
The orchard belongs to T. L. Kinney, of 
this State. It was not originally plant¬ 
ed with a view to thinning, so that the 
cutting out which has been done this 
Spring has been much more difficult 
than it would have been had the whole 
planting been planned with this expec¬ 
tation. In fact, it has required careful 
judgment in addition to a thoroughly 
good “nerve” to go into the best parts 
of the orchard, where large fruitful 
profitable trees were crowding, and to 
select one or two of the thriftiest for 
the sacrifice. Yet dozens of these big 
trees were removed bodily. Almost any 
one of these trees might have been ex¬ 
pected to bear five to ten barrels of 
apples this year. The photograph, Fig. 
154, shows Mr. Kinney’s wood yard, 
where are piled about a carload of the 
trunks and main branches. These all 
came from an orchard of about 10 acres, 
and one which, it should be understood, 
has been carefully pruned annually 
since it was set out. These are not the 
cleanings from a neglected orchard, but 
the thinnings from a mature, well-tend¬ 
ed. profitable orchard, planned without 
reference to thinning, and managed by a 
man who had no theory of thinning to 
put to test. 
In another part of the same orchard 
there is a single row of fillers. This row is made up 
of Baldwins and was put in between two rows of Spys 
about 10 years after the latter were planted. The 
space thus filled was unusually wide, something over 
40 feet as I remember it. The crowding has not been 
excessive, therefore the fillers have not been bodily 
removed, yet they have been completely lopped off at 
the sides next to the Spy rows. This enables the 
sprayer to get through, and the other orchard work 
to be carried on as it should be. As soon as the space 
thus secured grows too small again the Baldwin trees 
will be taken out altogether. The photograph, Fig. 
155, shows the row of dishorned Baldwin trees in the 
foreground. These observations simply show that 
one man does have the good sense and the nerve to 
cut out his apple trees when they are crowding, even 
though his plans and his prejudices happen to be op¬ 
posed to that system of treatment. f. a. waugh. 
Vermont. 
DRY POWDERS FOR SPRAYING. 
The application of insecticides and fungicides by 
means of dusting machines has some advantages, but, 
as it has many disadvantages, the conditions under 
which they are to be used should be considered in 
determining whether the dust or liquid applications 
are preferable. One advantage of the dust machines 
is that the amount required for a given area is less 
than when liquid sprays are used, so that it is easier 
carried about. They are also better adapted to rough 
land and steep hillsides. Among the disadvantages 
are that to be most effectual they must be applied 
while the plants and trees are wet with dew or rain, 
which makes it difficult to get over large areas. The 
dust is more readily washed off by rain than when 
liquid sprays containing lime are used. 
Our own experience when using fungicides has been 
that their effects are not only more lasting when the 
weather is rainy, but that the fungicidal properties 
of Bordeaux Mixture are greater when it is used in a 
liquid than in a dry form. In small gardens, when an 
insecticide only is needed, the powders are quite sat¬ 
isfactory for use on cucumbers, squashes, potatoes 
and other vegetables, and even for the bush fruits and 
small trees; but for orchards and all crops where 
fungicides are to be used the liquid applications are 
preferable when the conditions are favorable for their 
preparation and application. l. r. taft. 
Michigan Agricultural College. 
FEEDING THE COW PEA. 
We have referred to the plan of fertilizing the cow 
pea with potash and phosphoric acid. Practically 
every experiment shows that whenever these minerals 
are used on the cow pea there is a great increase in 
vine and root. As the crop is one which takes nitro¬ 
gen from the air, it is easy to see that 
the potash and acid phosphate are used 
to good advantage. The picture at Fig. 
157 shows how the fertilized vines grow. 
It requires little thought to understand 
what is gained by feeding the cow pea. 
Suppose we intend to plow the vines un¬ 
der for Fall grain or to leave them for 
a crop of corn next year. On poor soil 
we must fertilize the following crop in 
some manner anyway. We use 75 
pounds of muriate of potash and 300 
pounds of acid phosphate per acre on 
the cow peas and increase the growth 
of vines by 40 per cent. These rpinerals 
are still available for the following crop 
while they have gained for us 40 per 
cent more nitrogen than the cow peas 
would have gained, if grown without the 
fertilizer. All experience goes to show 
that one of the best ways to fertilize 
crops on poor soil is to feed the minerals 
through the cow pea. We speak of poor 
soil because no one should think of sow¬ 
ing cow peas on good soil. It is a plant 
for poor soils that are to be restored 
without great cost. We have been ask¬ 
ed how much nitrogen the cow peas act¬ 
ually add to the soil. At the Louisiana 
Experiment Station careful records were 
made of the vines, leaves and roots from 
an acre of Unknown cow peas. It was 
found that the plants contained 108.5 
pounds of nitrogen, 25.34 pounds of pot¬ 
ash and 122.83 pounds of phosphoric 
acid. This is as much nitrogen as is 
contained in 11 tons of average stable 
manure. While the cow pea will make 
a larger growth at the South than at 
the North, yields heavier than the one 
here mentioned have often been grown 
by northern farmers. At the New Jer¬ 
sey Experiment station a yield of eight 
tons of green cow pea vines per acre 
have been grown with the roots and 
stubble to be added. In parts of the 
South the cow pea is planted after oats, 
wheat or rye. When sown after rye it 
proves one of the best crops for killing weeds and 
grass. It makes a dense, heavy growth and smothers 
the weeds. At the Arkansas Experiment Station oats 
were harvested in June. The field was fitted and 
planted to cow peas, which matured $37.58 worth of 
vines and seed per acre besides getting off in time 
for a crop of rye! Hundreds of cases can be named 
where this remarkable crop gives the manurial ef¬ 
fect of clover on soil too poor to grow the latter crop 
and in one-quarter of the time. We advise a trial of 
the cow pea on the poorest soil of the farm. Give it 
a thorough test. Use the mineral fertilizers on part 
of the crop as a test, and, if you expect fertilizing re¬ 
sults, do not cut for hay. 
