1899 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
299 
HOW MARYLAND FIGHTS SAN JOSE SCALE. 
FUMIGATION IN THE NUBSEBY. 
How and Why It Is Done. 
| EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE. | 
Pabt III. 
Peach Trees. —It is a g. eat job to produce 1 000,000 
peach trees every year, and the work, as done at the 
Harrison nurseries, makes a most interesting study. 
There was one large field where the peach pits had 
been planted. We dug down into the ground, and 
found plenty of the pits, but they had not jet sprouted 
on March 14. New land is taken each year for this 
planting. Not far away was the field where last 
year’s stock had been grown. Young, thrifty trees 
two or three feet high, were being clipped off just 
above the bud. The negroes went through with heavy 
shears, cutting off the heavy growth down to an inch 
or so above where the bud had been set. The sprout 
from the bud will grow up this year, and make the 
tree, which will be sold the following Fall or Spring. 
It seemed like a waste to cut all this growth away 
from the young trees, and it indicates the necessity 
for heavy manuring, in order to produce trees of good 
size, for young peach trees are gluttons for food. 
Where one is growing 1,000,000 trees in this way, it 
is, of course, impossible to use buds from bearing 
trees entirely. On a small scale, or where one is grow¬ 
ing his own trees, it 
would, of course, be pos¬ 
sible to bud from pedi¬ 
greed stock, that is, from 
trees of known excel¬ 
lence, sure bearers of 
first-class fruit. In the 
large nurseries, however, 
where an immense num¬ 
ber of buds must be se¬ 
cured at once, it must, 
of necessity, be impos¬ 
sible to use buds from 
selected trees. The peach 
tree grows to perfection 
in this open, sandy soil. 
As stated last week, the 
peach loves a warm, open 
soil, whereas the apple 
and pear do better on a 
heavy if not colder soil. 
Vast numbers of peach 
trees are produced on 
the Eastern Shore of 
Maryland, largely be¬ 
cause of this ability of 
the peach to make a 
strong and vigorous 
growth, both above and 
below ground of this sort. 
Strawberry Plants. 
—Last Fall, in visiting 
Mr. Allen's place, I spoke 
of the method of growing 
strawberry plants in 
southern Maryland. Mr. 
Allen does not use the 
strawberry planter to 
any extent. The Harri¬ 
sons have a heavier, 
firmer soil, and they use the strawberry planter 
largely, with good results. With one of these ma¬ 
chines, with one man to drive and two boys to set, 
the plants are put into the ground, two rows at a 
time, as fast as the team can walk. 
As a home mixture of chemicals for the strawberry 
plant, the Harrisons use, among others, the follow¬ 
ing : 300 pounds of nitrate of soda, 200 pounds of dried 
fish, 1,000 pounds of dissolved rock, 300 pounds of 
muriate of potash, 200 pounds of raw bone. As com¬ 
pared with the potato fertilizer printed last week, 
this fertilizer contains a higher per cent of soluble 
nitrogen, the object being to produce large and vigor¬ 
ous plants. 
Mr. Harrison finds quite a difference in the habit of 
growth of different varieties, even with the same fer¬ 
tilizers. For example, there are two or three places 
on the farm where Parker Earle can be grown to per¬ 
fection, while in other localities, this variety could 
not be made to produce the best plants. One surpris¬ 
ing thing to me about the strawberry plant business, 
was the report that growers still demand Gandy ; one 
would suppose that this variety would gradually go 
out of use, owing to its failure as a heavy cropper, in 
most sections. Its fine quality and appearance, and 
its late habit of growth, keep it before the public so 
that it is still in active demand. 
Digging tbe Plants.—On the day of my visit, 
they were filling large orders for strawberry plants, 
and we had an opportunity of seeing just how the 
work is done. A squad of men were at work in the 
field with potato hooks. They followed the rows of 
strawberry plants across the field, picking up every¬ 
thing in their way. The plants were picked up be¬ 
hind them, put in wheelbarrows and carried to the 
sorting shed. The inside of this house or shed pre¬ 
sented a curious appearance. Probably 50 negroes 
of all sizes, men, women and children, were sorting 
out the best plants, tying them in bunches of a dozen, 
and laying them aside for the packers. It was a cold 
day, and there was a large wood fire in the center of 
the room. In spite of this, the sorters blew their 
black fingers, although they kept busily at work. 
These laborers mostly live within a short distance 
of the farm. Some of them have been working here 
for years, bringing their children as they grow old 
enough to help, and acquiring considerable skill at 
the business. They work upon one variety at a time, 
and as soon as a sufficient number of that variety had 
been sorted, the whole room was carefully swept out, 
and the trash carried away to be burned before a new 
variety was brought in. The object of this was to 
prevent any possibility of the mixing of varieties. 
Instead of packing in baskets as was formerly done, 
the Harrisons now pack in light wooden cases, using 
plenty of damp moss, so as to avoid, as far as possi¬ 
ble, any danger of heating on the way. 
Asparagus Roots —One great business on this 
farm, is the growing of asparagus roots. On the day of 
my visit, these roots were being dug much the same as 
one would dig potatoes. One-year-old roots are sold, 
the seed having been planted in drills not unlike 
the sowing of beet seed. The young plants are culti¬ 
vated and well cared for through the season, and 
make a vigorous growth in this light, warm soil. It 
is necessary to fertilize the ground heavily in order to 
produce a good crop. They are dug with potato hooks, 
much the same as the strawberry plants are dug, 
sorted and counted out carefully, and shipped all over 
the country. , 
The trade in asparagus roots this year is better 
than for several years past. There seems to be a 
greater demand than ever, this year, for the roots. 
This would seem strange at first in view of the fact 
that the Asparagus rust has injured the crop in some 
places, so that growers are quite discouraged. The 
profits in the crop, however, are fair, and all over the 
country, people seem to be determined to set out new 
beds of asparagus. This seems to be particularly true 
in some sections where towns and cities of fair size 
have not in the past been well supplied with this vege¬ 
table. But there now seems to be a growing demand 
for it in all such places. 
A Great Enterprise.— The Harrisons have built 
up their business from small beginnings. They started 
first at fruit raising, but gradually worked into the 
nursery business. The business is now so large that 
they are obliged to departmentize it—the father look¬ 
ing to the peach trees and shipping, one son attend¬ 
ing to the strawberry plants, and the other handling 
the business correspondence. 
Next to the warm, open soil, perhaps the most im¬ 
portant factor in producing a good peach tree at a fair 
price is the cheap negro labor. It seems to me that 
one of the greatest of southern advantages is the 
constant supply of strong and fairly reliable help. 
The southern negro is about the only American farm 
laborer who is a “hired man” by profession. He 
doesn’t expect to be anything else. Mr. Allen told 
me that the factory whistles in Salisbury regulate 
the hours of labor for his farm hands. Off in the 
country, out of hearing of the factories, the hands 
work with more satisfaction. The southern men cer¬ 
tainly succeed well in handling these negro workmen. 
They say that they “understand tbe darkey,” and 
the statement seems to be true, for they know ho v to 
mike him very useful. H. W C. 
ROLLING OFF THE MORTGAGE. 
HOBSE POWEB VS. MAN POWER. 
Our artist had a dream—“ which was not all a 
dream.” He was wide awake when he drew the pic¬ 
tures shown at Fig. 121. He saw Hank Hoehandle 
with his old-time methods struggling against the 
mortgage that was crushing, not only his home, but 
his very life. Perhaps wlien that mortgage was first put 
upon the home, he was young, strong, and full of hope 
for the future. With reluctant hand his trusting wife 
put her name to the paper that fastened upon them a 
lead that has borne them 
down beneath its weight, 
and made them old be¬ 
fore their time. Perhaps 
there came a time when 
the large family of 
brothers and sisters that 
grew up in the old home¬ 
stead, had laid Father 
and Mother in their last 
resting place. Some of 
these had made homes 
of their own, perhaps in 
distant places. Hank 
alone had remained to 
caTe for his parents in 
their declining years, 
and to work the old 
farm. None wished to 
have the old homestead 
pass into strange hands. 
By common consent, it 
was agreed that Hank 
should be allowed to keep 
the old farm. To pay off 
the others, he had to 
mortgage the place, and 
in so doing, he fastened 
upon himself a load that 
has been dragging him 
down ever since, and 
which he will carry until 
his dying day. 
But having once taken 
up the burden, Hank has 
bent his back to the 
task, and stuck to it 
doggedly ever since. He 
has had no time to read 
agricultural books and 
papers, to attend farmers’ institutes or other 
meetings. He has had no money to spend on new¬ 
fangled implements, or improved breeds of stock 
or varieties of grains, fruits or vegetables. He has 
simply had time to work early and late, with the old- 
time implements, in the old-fashioned, back breaking 
way. He has grown old and bent and thin ; the farm 
has grown poorer and poorer ; the buildings have be¬ 
come weather-beaten and dilapidated ; the stock is 
lean and scrawny. It’s the old homestead, sure enough, 
but what a change ! The mortgage alone is unchanged, 
but into its insatiable maw has gone, year after year, 
the interest that has drained the farm of everything 
that would make life worth living upon it. It is a sad 
picture. He is an example of the folly of trying to 
meet modern conditions with the tools and methods 
of a half century ago. 
But the artist saw, also, Peter Goahead, on his neat, 
well-tilled and attractive farm, with its cosy cottage, 
its fruitful fields and orchards, trees and plants. He, 
also, had a mortgage. But he realized the advantage 
of horse power and machinery over the oldtime tools. 
He knew that times have changed, and that we must 
change with them if we would succeed. He read and 
studied, bought labor-saving implements, and did 
more head work. With his modern machines, his 
wife or 12-year-old boy, or even his daughter, can ac¬ 
complish more actual work in an hour, with no fatigue, 
than Hank Hoehandle can do with the hardest kind 
of labor in a long day. With the great advantage 
these tools give him, he is rolling off the mortgage, 
and at the same time improving and beautifying his 
home. His methods and their results form a strong 
contrast to those of Hank Hoehandle, but no stronger 
than may be found in hundreds of cases in real life in 
many parts of our country. Machinery, backed by 
skill, will win over mere muscle every time, 
THE HANDS FAIL. THE HORSES WIN. 
TWO WAYS OF LIFTING A MORTGAGE. Fig. 121. 
