75o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
November 8 
fine and tramped. Sometimes people shred a layer 
say one foot deep, over the mow and then put on a 
layer of straw half as thick. The nicest way, if not 
too much trouble, is to cut a layer of dry clover hay 
in the place of straw. It feeds out nicely with the cut 
fodder, and protects it against mold. If, however, the 
fodder is too full of sap or wet, it will mold in patches 
with the dry stuff mixed with it. It is only a partial 
remedy. We cannot afford it, and wait till the stuff 
is dry enough to take care of itself. If it is shredded 
into the mow in good condition it does not take mois¬ 
ture enough from the air to mold at all, not the least. 
Many here have worked horses on it plowing in the 
Spring, and have kept some left over in the mow for 
years. It keeps as well as hay. Either will get old 
after a while. I do not like salting either hay or fod¬ 
der. The salt draws dampness from the air, and final¬ 
ly makes the feed huskier and harsher. Hay put up 
with salt will be more brittle and woody. Five shred¬ 
ders were unloaded at this village last week. One firm 
at Indianapolis sold and delivered more than a thou¬ 
sand this season. One can hardly secure power any 
more to run one without buying an engine. Farmers 
feel that to hire a machine at five cents a bushel is 
pretty expensive feed, but they hate to see such fine 
feed blow away, and find that by cooperation they can 
well afford to save it. In shredding the fodder of 
course they get the corn shucked for nothing. The 
feed is in before bad weather and while the ground is 
not damaged by getting on it, and when the snow 
blows one rests mighty easy if he has 40 head of big 
cactle and a lot of other stock and a barn full of fine 
feed, instead of having to go through mud and snow 
all Winter with a hoe to chop the butts loose from 
the ground. The pleasure of it is much, the saving of 
health is much, the economy of feed is great and it 
is becoming very popular in the great corn belt 
Central Indiana. e. xi. collies. 
WHAT APPLES FOR “FILLERS?” 
For western New York I would say that the Alex¬ 
ander and Twenty Ounce are my choice. 
Monroe Co., N. Y. J. R* collamer. 
For ourselves we use and prefer Duchess of Olden¬ 
burg. Perhaps Yellow Transparent may be an earlier 
bearer, but it is tender and white. david baird. 
Monmouth Co., N. J. 
I know of no better filler for apple orchard than 
Rome Beauty, Hubbardston Nonsuch, McIntosh Red, 
and from what little I know of Boiken I think 
it would be good. The Ben Davis I do not advise 
anyone to plant in New York; too poor in quality, 
unless you have a contract, extending over a term of 
years, with some leather concern, making pressed 
leather goods. t. b. wllsox. 
Ontario Co., N. Y. 
Wealthy is one of the very best; Yellow Transpar¬ 
ent is good and early, but only for a fancy local mar¬ 
ket, unless great care is used in getting them to mar¬ 
ket. Wagener is an early and abundant bearer and 
good fruit. As we grow Rome Beauty largely by close 
planting we .do not use fillers, but they often bear at 
four to six years old, sometimes as much as a barrel 
or more on some of the best trees. I cannot recom¬ 
mend any fillers for them. v. t. cox. 
Lawrence Co., O. 
I have two blocks of young apple trees planted 30 
feet each way. In the center of the four trees I have 
planted Kieffer pears in one orchard; in the other I 
planted the Worden Seckel. I don’t know how they 
will turn out. I don’t much like the idea; I assure 
you I am not in love with the “filler” plan. While 
something can be said in its favor, much more can be 
said against it. I understand from fruit growers that 
the Missouri Pippin is the most desirable variety to 
use as a filler on account of its early bearing. If I 
was going to do it I would select varieties that were 
not rampant growers. I think Rome Beauty would 
answer the purpose very well. wm. H. skillman. 
New Jersey. 
Missouri Pippin is undoubtedly far ahead of any 
other apple for that purpose in the West; it is an 
early and abundant bearer. I might say it is better 
calculated for that purpose than for any other, in 
that it bears so abundantly for a few years that it is 
short-lived; does its work and is out of the way; too 
short-lived to be planted as a permanent part of an 
orchard. Wagener is another early bearer and an 
excellent apple, but does not succeed so generally as 
does the Missouri Pippin. The Duchess of Oldenburg 
is also an early and abundant bearer, and where one 
can find a good market for early apples is a very 
profitable sort. Pewaukee is also an early and an 
annual bearer, but has some drawbacks, such as drop¬ 
ping badly sometimes, and so altogether I name Mis¬ 
souri Pippin as the best apple for this purpose that 
I know. GEO. J. FOSTER. 
McLean Co., Ill. 
I am not in favor of setting an orchard so as to use 
fillers. I am sure it is not the best thing to do. Set 
your trees a reasonable distance apart, and in case 
any die in first eight years replant. Our early bear¬ 
ing varieties are Missouri Pippin, Ben Davis and 
Gano; these three would make good fillers for other 
varieties which take longer to come into bearing. I 
now plant two rows Ben Davis, then two rows of 
Gano, next two rows Jonathan and so on, as I con¬ 
sider these the three paying apples. I plant this way 
so as to get the benefit of cross pollenization. 
Boone Co., Mo. d. a. robnett. 
I have a small orchard, about 70 trees, of Duchess 
of Oldenburg apples, and they seem to possess the 
essentials of a “filler” to a marked degree. They bear 
very young, the mature tree is small, and it is short¬ 
lived. The Duchess is, however, a Summer variety, 
and to my mind that is a serious objection. The 
Wealthy, a late Autumn or early Winter variety, is 
also a very early bearer. Four-year-old trees this 
year were burdened with large handsome fruits. 
Three-year-old trees of the Wagener apple were full, 
and this variety promises to be a good filler, though 
it is apt to overbear. It is an apple of fine quality 
where well grown, and is a good keeper. 
Niagara Co., N. Y. w. t. Manx. 
I am not much of an advocate of “fillers” for apple 
orchards, although I am aware that good authorities 
deem them quite practicable. Where one does not 
wish to crop the ground to any extent fillers of apple 
trees might pay, but very few men would have the 
nerve to pull them out at the right time. In our ex¬ 
perience Hubbardston would be the first choice for 
this purpose. We noticed in a neighbor’s orchard 
this year trees of this variety bearing over a bushel 
apiece eight years from setting. Oldenburg would be 
our second choice. Yellow Transparent is also very 
early in coming into bearing. Mr. Van Deman often 
FRUIT OF MAULE’S QUINCE. Fig. 307. 
See Ruralisms, Page 754. 
recommends Wagener for this purpose, but Wagener 
with us grows scraggy and unsatisfactory, w. a. b. 
Farmer, N. Y. 
THE BELGIAN HARE CRAZE ABOUT OVER. 
All foolish things usually soon run their course and 
are dropped. The fad or fashion for Belgian hares 
and their breeding had its day, but I do not think it 
was or is all a humbug. Having been so situated at 
one time that it was convenient to keep this animal, 
I bought a few and tried their propagation and 
growth. My son then became enthused, and I feared 
he would become crazed with the business, but he 
did not quite reach that point. We never paid any 
fancy prices for breeders, nor did we try to sell any 
in that way. It is true that we sold some at fair 
prices to those who wanted them for making a start, 
and found the business moderately profitable in a 
small way. I always knew that there were a lot of 
sharpers in the trade, who asked enormous prices, 
and, I am sorry to know, got them. No one with 
good sense and ordinary means ought ever to have 
been fooled by any such scamps. There was and now 
is, in my opinion, a legitimate and reasonable side to 
the question. 
We had a country place, where we grew plenty of 
all kinds of garden stuff and some farm crops. Of 
course there were some weeds. Nearly everything 
that grew seemed to suit the taste of the hares. We 
gave them grains of all kinds in some measure. One 
thing that they liked and thrived on above all else, 
was the leaves and tender bark of poplar trees. We 
happened to have a row of Carolina poplars near our 
house, and it occurred to me that, as they needed top¬ 
ping, the brush would make good food for the hares. 
This proved eminently true, for they ate. all but the 
wood, and it agreed with them wonderfully. There 
was almost no sickness among them after this dis¬ 
covery. It was also very cheap food. All we had to 
do was to cut off what brush they would need for a 
few days and give it to them, along with a little 
grain, weeds from the garden and any other stuff that 
might be suitable and convenient. They needed some 
water, but did not drink freely when they had green 
food. We found the hares as cheap and profitable 
meat as we could produce from other animals, and 
it is most delicious on the table. A writer in The 
R. N.-Y. has lately stated that the flesh was not good 
in the Summer. This is true of the old hares but 
not of the young ones. We have never sat down to 
any better dish than that made from half-grown Bel¬ 
gian hares, well fried, no matter what time of year it 
might happen to be. We liked them stewed and in 
potpie fully as well. Our visitors who tried any of 
these dishes all pronounced them excellent. We never 
tried to sell any hares on the produce market, because 
we did not care to do it, but we could have afforded 
to do so for about the same price per pound as chick¬ 
ens, and my wife says for less. We have eaten hun¬ 
dreds of wild rabbits (and some jack rabbits among 
them) at our house, but we prefer the hares to all 
except those about half-grown and not mangled by 
shot. As a matter of interest to the boys and for 
those who are situated so as to give a little time and 
care to keeping them the Belgian hare may be made 
a source of profit and pleasure, but only in a moder¬ 
ate Way. _ H. E. VAN DEMAN. 
HOW TO HANDLE PEACH PITS. 
Peach pits or plum pits should either be planted or 
buried in sand, as soon as saved, so as to prevent their 
drying out, which toughens the shell. I have no 
trouble in getting 90 per cent and more to come the 
first year by mixing with sand as soon as saved, plac¬ 
ing all in a box, and burying it a foot or more deep 
until ground to receive the seed is ready for planting, 
which in our State (Texas) should be no later than 
middle of January. A month later than this many 
of the seeds will be found sprouting and are apt to be 
injured by being handled then. J. w. stubexraucti. 
Nature comes near solving most problems. The 
natural way for a peach seed to sprout is for the peach 
to drop from the tree, and the seed to be trampled in 
the ground and sprout. I believe the best method we 
could advise for getting best results from planting 
peach seed is to prepare the soil thoroughly and not 
cover more than one inch deep in a well-drained piece 
of land. We have had sad experience in covering 
peach seed too deep only the past season. There is 
quite an uncertainty about getting planted seed out 
in time, and it is more or less speculative. 
Berlin, Md. j. g. harrison & sons. 
FRUIT PACKING IN CALIFORNIA. 
The California cherries come to this market in fine con¬ 
dition-well packed and neatly sized. We have been in¬ 
terested in learning how they can be handled and shipped 
so far and yet arrive in such excellent condition. Mr. 
Keesling gives his experience below: 
The same rules regarding picking and handling ap¬ 
ply to all fruits that are to be packed for shipment. 
A favorite expression of mine when passing among 
the men when gathering fruit is: “Handle them like 
eggs, boys,” and any careless fruit picker who drops 
cherries into an empty picking pail so that they may 
be heard a short distance away is promptly looked 
after by the man in charge of the picking. After the 
cherries are picked they are carried to the packing 
house in the pails that they are picked in, and care¬ 
fully poured on to the packing tables, where they are 
packed in the regulation shipping boxes. This is 
done principally by young women, who soon learn to 
do the work carefully and well, putting into the box 
only cherries that are sound, free from bruises or 
holes in the skin, etc. After being packed they are 
carefully inspected by the forewoman, who also 
watches the work as it progresses, noting any slack 
or too tight packing. There are few packers who can 
fill a box exactly right for nailing up, and not all fore¬ 
women can do it properly. It requires some experi¬ 
ence in nailing up and opening boxes to get the cor¬ 
rect idea of how tightly the boxes should be nailed up. 
After the bottom is nailed on the box is turned over, 
the top or cover taken off and the face examined for 
defects in fruit or packing. The cover is then put back 
and the fruit is ready to haul to the shipping point, 
which for this county is San Jose. 
There are no large growers or packers of cherries 
who may if they would make carload shipments. All 
shipments are made through agents, who receive ship¬ 
ments of any number of boxes that the grower or 
packer mav offer, from one box up to half a car or 
more. One large packer hauls 800 boxes at once on 
two wagons drawn by four horses from his packing 
house, about four miles to point of shipment. How¬ 
ever, the small cherry grower usually fares a little 
better than the large packer, which may be accounted 
for from the fact that he probably gives the picking 
and packing a more careful supervision than it is pos¬ 
sible lor the man who does a large business to do. U 
requires on an average about 250 persons one day to 
pick and pack a carload of 2,100 boxes of cherries. 
California. m. g. keesling. 
