Vol. LXI. No. 2754 
*1 PER YEAR. 
NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 8, 1902. 
AN APPLE ORCHARD IN SOUTHERN OHIO. 
The Home of the Rome Beauty. 
That the growing of fine fruit depends more largely 
upon the man than upon anything else seems nowa¬ 
days quite evident to the close observer. This con¬ 
clusion was reached by the writer while studying the 
conditions and laboring with the workers in the or¬ 
chard of Nelson Cox, of Lawrence Co., Ohio. The 
accompanying picture. Fig. 306, shows Mr. Cox with 
a basket of his first-grade Rome Beauties at his side. 
How such fruit is produced one is very anxious to 
learn, and the wonder of the observer is greatly in¬ 
creased when walking over the ground where such re¬ 
sults are obtained. Here, without a doubt, may be 
found the finest Rome Beauties grown in the State, 
as yearly premiums will testify; and we are told that 
the fruit grown here compares very favorably with, 
if not excels, that of New York and other States. 
Probably the secret of Mr. Cox’s success, as well as 
that of his two sons, U. J. and E. S. Cox, is in their 
very thorough spraying. Indeed they 
are enthusiasts upon this point. The 
elder Mr. Cox has been a grower of 
apples for the past 50 years, but it has 
been during the past 10 years only 
that he has practiced spraying and 
succeeded in growing the perfect fruit 
for which he and his sons are justly 
famous. The site upon which Mr. 
Cox’s 120 acres of orchard stands 
would hardly be chosen by the average 
orchardist as ideal apple ground. High 
and abrupt terraces rise one upon an¬ 
other and traverse long ridges. The 
land is naturally very foul, and in 
spots too poor for any farm crop to 
grow. Huge lichen-covered rocks crop 
out among the trees, and in many 
cases the trees themselves stand upon 
ledges of rock. Stones are everywhere, 
and in the economy of nature here they 
seem to be in the right place. And 
yet, under these stern conditions, this 
limitation of methods, Mr. Cox finds it 
possible to get excellent results. Un¬ 
like Mr. Hitchings’s method of mulch¬ 
ing with grass, Mr. Cox’s mulch is 
chiefly stone, with what soil can be 
turned up, and here and there a few 
weeds and brush, which have been 
called into service to help save a drought-stricken 
tree on the top of some ridge. Within the past sea¬ 
son cow peas have been tried, where cultivation was 
possible, and they have made a moderate growth. 
Aside from the very thorough spraying which Mr. 
Cox most heartily believes in, there are two other 
practices or causes which figure prominently in the 
securing of the perfect fruit yearly. I refer to liberal 
thinning and successive pickings. Most orchardists 
would doubt the wisdom or at least see little profit 
in having their pickers make as many as three or 
four pickings, and especially on ground so difficult 
to get over. Yet it is in his method of picking only 
that Mr. Cox is able to place such a large percentage 
of fruit in the first grade. Here only the largest and 
most highly-colored apples are taken. No small ap¬ 
ples are picked unless highly colored, and then only 
to lighten trees. The smaller, partly colored apples 
of the second grade are left on the trees where, in 
two weeks’ time, they will develop ample color and 
size so as easily to place them in the first grade. This 
all takes time and requires much moving of ladders, 
but that it pays, and pays well, there can be no ques¬ 
tion. By this method of picking Mr. Cox finds that 
he has very few second-grade apples to sell. Rome 
Beauty is the main crop, as one would expect, since 
that excellent variety is quite at home here, it hav¬ 
ing originated in Rome township, but seven miles 
from Mr. Cox’s place. Grimes Golden and York Im¬ 
perial are also grown to advantage, also two excel¬ 
lent seedlings, which the public may hear from later 
on, are being grown and tested on this farm. As a 
pioneer and leader of apple culture Mr. Cox’s success 
and fame are rapidly extending beyond the bounds of 
his own State. a. p. ir. 
ALFALFA IN OHIO. 
This subject interests me, and I have been watching 
the outcome of that Alfalfa experiment. Do not give it 
up yet. We have gone over the same road. It was 
very discouraging at first, but the longer we grow Al¬ 
falfa the more do we firmly believe it is one of the 
best friends the farmer has. I first became interested 
in the plant about 12 years ago, and read with as¬ 
tonishment and with much misgiving the statements 
of Kansas and Nebraska farmers. In 1892 I sowed 
about one-eighth acre. On the recommendation of 
some writers I sowed oats with it. The oats did ex¬ 
ceptionally well, but the Alfalfa made a poor stand. 
What plants were there made fine growth the follow¬ 
ing year. On May 27 it was 30 inches high, and 
blooming. It was harvested May 28. It was cut again 
July 1 and the middle of August, and was then pas¬ 
tured. Another seeding was made in April, 1893. I 
secured a good stand, but the Winter seemed to kill 
it out, and it was thought necessary to plow it, but 
finally decided to let it remain another year. That 
plot of one-third acre is still growing good crops at 
the rate of about six tons per acre. I send you a 
stalk of the fourth cutting, made October 1, the first 
cutting being made June 6, the second on July 8, the 
third August 13, the third cutting being the lightest. 
The stalk I send is about average height of fourth 
cutting.—[It measured 28 inches.—Eds.] Another 
seeding was made in 1894, another in 1896, and an¬ 
other in 1901. All were good stands except those of 
18.92 and 1896. I expect to sow more next Spring. We 
have never cut fewer than three crops, and have cut 
four crops except in 1893 and 1901. 
Ohio. JOHN L. SHAWVER. 
KEEPING SHREDDED FODDER IN INDIANA 
A Farmers' Co-operative Plan. 
In central Indiana we have been shredding fodder 
for years. Our own company has worn out a shredder 
and bought a new one. The main fault of the one we 
have abandoned, though not quite worn out, was that 
it would not shred the stalks fine enough. It would 
leave damp tough stalks in halves, with parts perhaps 
four feet long. The dry stalks it made finer. Even 
with the dry it often left pieces six inches long. We 
find that improved machines cut it fine and uniform, 
so that it is all eaten. Two things should be insisted 
on in buying a machine. One is that it shall separate 
the shelled corn from the fodder. We do not care so 
much how much it shells if it will fan it and sack it. 
The other is that it must shred the stalks very fine. 
We bought a shredder this Fall; have not tried it yet, 
but one in this neighborhood makes nice feed. You 
can hardly detect the butts of the stalk in the feed, it 
is so uniform, in any machine that makes it fine. 
When I bought the shredder for our 
company they wanted to put in 
a shredder head. I wanted the shred¬ 
der and cutter head combined. They 
said that some complained that the 
knife head (the latter) knocked the 
blades into dust and the shredder head 
was made to avoid it. I told them 
that we had a neighbor who used to 
run his fodder through a cutting box 
and then through burrs that he ground 
his corn in, and it was a great saving 
to him. We took the shredder and 
cutter head combined. I do not care 
if it knocks it into dust. As to ex¬ 
pense, four of us own a second-hand 
engine and a cutter to fill silos and 
this shredder, and the use of the ma¬ 
chine two years pays for it. Then, 
too, we can help each other. We can 
also shred when we want to, and can 
wait if wet till we are ready. No one 
is pushing us or holding back. 
WHEN TO SHRED.—We think it 
safe to shred usually when the sap is 
out of the cob so it will do to crib the 
corn. In wet Falls like this, when 
corn ripened slow and grew late, it 
will not do as soon by two weeks as 
in a dry Fall with heavy frost. We 
often shred in this climate the last week of October, 
but the bulk of it is done in November and the first 
half of December. One should remember that the corn 
plant is a coarse grass, and is subject to the same con¬ 
ditions of curing as other grasses. After the sap is 
once out of the stalk so that it is air-dry there is not 
much danger of shredding too wet. But sap in the 
stalk will rot any fodder. We aim for the pith to get 
dry enough so that one cannot squeeze sap out of it. 
After* it is once “dry as a bone” I have shredded when 
rain wet it till water would fly in my face as it was 
thrown on the table. This was from occasional wet 
bundles from the north side of the shock. Some stalks 
were tough enough to make whips. This fodder mold¬ 
ed in patches, but was eaten fairly clean. Two days 
after shredding the mow smoked at the window till 
one would fear the barn was afire. In such case do 
not disturb it. It is far better not to touch it. In this 
section some who have small mow room stack it. It 
will keep surprisingly well in a stack. It does not 
wet down much. 
If the fodder is fairly dry I tramp it as hard as I 
can in the mow. This is not to make it keep; it will 
keep better loose, but it is to save room. It is a sur¬ 
prise how much one can get in a mow if it is shredded 
NELSON COX, A VETERAN OHIO FRUIT GROWER. Fig. 306. 
