528 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
July 30 
and a small space between the two blades, and you 
will have some idea of what the horses have to do in 
drawing a machine with the guards worn. When the 
guards begin to wear, they not only get thinner, there¬ 
by making a space between the knife and the guard, 
but the edge of the guard, instead of having a sharp 
edge, is worn rounding so that it does nothing at all 
in the way of cutting. If the guards are worn only a 
little, sharpen them with a file, making as much bevel 
to the edge as possible. r. B. crosby. 
UNCLE SAM’S NEW TERRITORY. 
FREE-HAND NOTES ON HAWAII. 
Mr. C. E. Haskins, a prominent horticulturist of 
Oregon, spent the time from October, 1897. to June, 
1898, in the Hawaiian Islands, on a tour of investigation 
and pleasure, and has written the following letter to 
his friend, II. E. Van Deman, which we publish, in 
part, by his permission : 
A German horticulturist took to me, and we went 
all over the islands together. I formed the acquaint¬ 
ance of all the oflicials in the agricultural and pomo- 
logical departments, and saw all of their many kinds 
of fruits, nuts, plants, etc. I found them all very in¬ 
teresting, but must say that I was surprised to find 
that there was no such thing as a nursery such as we 
have, in all the Hawaiian Islands. No fruits are 
grafted or budded, as we do in the United States. They 
simply plant the seeds and trust to luck, just as our 
grandfathers did with the old seedling apple orchards. 
1 did some budding of oranges, and grafted some 
mango trees, and found it as easily performed and as 
sure as at home, if everj’thing was properly handled, 
and at the right time. 
Fruits vary from seed here as elsewhere, and I found 
some of the finest individual varieties among the mango 
trees as well as among other fruits. But after learn¬ 
ing all I could, I do not think it would pay to grow 
an 3 'thing in the fruit line, and ship it over 2,000 miles 
to market ; but for home use, it w'ould pay to grow 
better fruits. In traveling over the islands, I would 
find some one who would recommend something 
as the finest in the world, and I hoped to find an 
orange worthy of sending for testing in the United 
States, but I found nothing. There are many kinds 
of fruits growing there that will not grow in any 
part of the United States on account of climate, but 
on looking the trip all over, I never before passed 
eight months so pleasantly in my life. 
Sugar growing is really all that the islands are 
worth. To help commerce is the reason the white 
people asked for annexation. Eight islands are in¬ 
habited, but four of them are nearly all rocks, and 
afford but little chance for even the natives to live. 
Kauai, Oahu, Maui and Hawaii are really all that are 
of much value, and all of these have high and steep 
mountains in the centers. In fact, all the land that 
is of any value is a strip from one to five miles wide 
around the edge near the sea, where the cane is 
grown. Sugar is produced by contract labor, Portu¬ 
guese, Chinese and Japanese, at about $7 per month, 
and the laborers board themselves. One woman is 
found to about every 13 men. No one can pass from 
the Hawaiian Islands without a passport, and only at 
Honolulu and Hilo can a ship land. So you can see 
how easy it would be to maintain slavery, where one 
would have to swim one-half mile .through breakers 
over sharp coral reefs to get on a ship. Besides, each 
landing h&s police. 
To tell the truth, a recital of all the conditions 
would not help your opinion of the Hawaiian Islands. 
1 admire the government, in some respects, and be¬ 
lieve that it would be better should we pattern from 
them somewhat. I do not think I ever saw a more 
shrewd people ; they are not there for fun, and I find 
a whole lot of their printed information for the public 
is humbug. The number of square miles in all the 
islands is 6,740, and not one-tenth of them is fit for 
people to live on. The national debt is about $4,000,- 
000 , or nearly #500 for every square mile, lava flow 
and all. The climate is as good as I could make it if 
I were to try. The land that is good is wonderfully 
good, and the rest the poorest I ever saw. So to make 
it short, the finest conditions of climate, soil, fruits, 
and other products, social, political, etc., can be 
found ; also the worst in the world. 
The political conditions for the masses are bad, and 
after learning all 1 can. I do not know what to say 
about them, but think there will be a revolution of 
some kind before many years. If contract labor 
be stopped, it will be almost death to their sugar 
interests, and with it, will end a worse slavery than 
ours ever was. The clashing nationalities will be 
hard to control. In short, I can not convey an intel¬ 
ligent idea of the conditions in a short letter like this. 
We could not have been thrown among more pleas¬ 
ant people. They did all they could do to help us 
have a gefod time. They are the most loyal people to 
Hawaii I ever met. They do everything possible to 
turn your head, and they came near turning mine; 
but I went out of the beaten paths, and saw the bad 
as well as the good. I am sure you would admire the 
strange fruits, nuts, etc., found there. There is no 
fruit in the world so good as the mango, to my taste, 
yet I could not say I liked it at first. The same may 
be said of all the fruits grown there. AIDkinds of 
fruits can be had 12 months in the year—Papaya, pine¬ 
apple, banana, custard apple, mango, orange, lemon, 
fig, palms of all kinds, strawberry, water lemon and 
many other curious fruits, and in numberless varie¬ 
ties. It is enough to turn one's head. But on the 
other hand, one feels as though he were in jail out 
on a rock 2,000 miles from anywhere. 
A “BALANCED ” ENSILAGE NATION. 
PEAS OK BEANS WITH THE CORN. 
In May, 1898, I bought one-half bushel of Soy beans, 
and started in to produce 1% -acre of balanced ensil¬ 
age. May 21, in hills 3% feet apart each way, with a 
hand corn-planter, I planted the following mixture at 
the rate of 12 quarts per acre: Thorburn White Flint 
corn, two parts; Soy beans, one part by measure, well 
mixed. Both beans and corn came up well, but before 
I was aware, a flock of pigeons had eaten many of the 
tender leaves of the beans. I brought a gun into play, 
but too late to prevent the ruin of the experiment. 
Only scattering beans survived. 
Another piece of corn planted in drills in April, 
was thinned out by cold, wet weather. With the 
hand planter, I filled this in with the remainder of 
the beans. But woodchucks and pigeons developed 
such a fondness for them that the whole Soy-bean 
experiment is a failure. If I plant Soy beans next 
year, it will be with a planter in one hand and a shot¬ 
gun in the other. 
The wisdom of planting corn and beans together, 
iu hills at least, is doubtful. Probably beans cannot 
give their-full production per acre hill-planted at corn 
distances, and there would be waste of ground unless 
some method of drill planting were employed. There 
is plenty of room for study in the development of 
home-grown protein, and all efforts in that direction 
should be encouraged. 
But has a cow paunch enough to do what is asked 
of her in modern intensive dairying on coarse feed 
alone ? The advocates of balanced ensilage go upon 
the theory that she has, and point to the Summer cow 
which runs the milk pail over on a grass diet for a 
time in June. But that Summer cow is one of two. 
Either she is just fresh after a long Winter rest, and 
will rapidly drop off in proportion as the tender grass 
grows woody, or she is a cow which has been grained 
in Winter. If she has been grained in Winter, and 
this grain is all taken off in the'flush of grass, she 
may maintain a good flow of milk on grass alone, or 
even increase for a time, but she will lose flesh, and 
will require a tedious season of “ bringing up ” again 
during and after the hot midsummer months. The 
traditional cow which overflowed the pail on grass 
alone was a Winter boarder who did her brag work 
in June with, perhaps, a spurt in October when turned 
upon the meadows. The modern dairy cow, if run for 
a profit, must be under forced draught for 10 months 
of the year with no bog-hay nonsense about the other 
two months. 
Take an average scientific balanced ration and 
eliminate the concentrated feeds in it. In order not 
to disarrange its total digestive nutrients or its ratio, 
you are obliged to increase the pounds of coarse fodder 
both on the protein side and the carbohydrate side, 
to an extent beyond the cow's capacity to hold the 
food. It seems to me that an intensive system of 
dairying will continue to demand some concentrated 
feed, even when we have greatly improved our 
methods of producing protein at home. E. c. BIRGK. 
Connecticut. 
AN UNFRUITFUL APPLE ORCHARD. 
WHAT AVOULD YOU DO WITH IT ? 
A reader in Orleans County, N. Y., asks for advice as to the best 
treatment of his orchard. It is 20 years old, mostly Baldwins It 
lias been frequently tilled, but gives very little fruit for the labor 
expended upon it. Some advise him to give clean culture; others 
say seed down permanently, and either pasture or mow the grass, 
and allow it to remain on the land for a mulch. The trees are 
quite thrifty, and our friend wishes to know what he would better 
do with regard to tilling the orchard or keeping it in grass for 
mowing or pasture. This is something of an old question, which 
comes up year after year, and never seems to be answered fully. 
Will you tell us just what you would do in a case of this kind, 
and why ? 
Feed Clover and Spray. 
It would be hard giving advice in regard to this or¬ 
chard with the information at hand, without having 
seen the orchard, or knowing more fully its condition. 
But I think it safe to say that, if the orchard has 
made a strong growth of wood, I would seed it down 
with clover or some pasture grass. If it is possible, I 
would top-dress it lightly each year with barnyard 
manure, and pasture with either sheep or hogs (hogs 
without rings in their noses preferable) and each. 
year, give it three good, thorough sprayings with 
Bordeaux Mixture and T’aris-green, the first one be¬ 
fore the blossoms open, and the other two later in the 
season. t. b. wilson. 
Seneca County, N. Y. 
Mr. W. H. Hart’s Advice. 
I have had no personal experience with thrifty 
Baldwin trees which do not bear. If suflicient phos¬ 
phoric acid and potash are present, clean culture from 
early Spring until late in June, and seeding with 
Crimson clover or other cover crop not later than June 
25, ought to induce formation of fruit buds, at least 
every other year, and I would expect fruit buds to be 
followed by a good yield almost every time. It may 
answer to experiment in trunk laceration, if necessary 
to form the bearing habit. A Baldwin orchard 20 
3 r ears old should have borne five full crops since plant¬ 
ing, and I would not rest until it responds to treat¬ 
ment. In my own orchard, I do not like permanent 
seeding, yet it may answer under conditions with 
which I am not familiar. I have never found soil so 
rich that it could divide its strength between apples 
and other crops without seriously curtailing the yield 
of apples. In stopping culture before the end of June, 
to check wood growth, it is sometimes necessary, in 
seasons of much rainfall, to run the mowing machine 
over the weeds late in the season, letting them remain 
as mulch, having a care as to mice before freezing 
weather. w. h. hart. 
Dutchess Countyq N. Y. 
Should Know More About It. 
In order to answer the question I should know, first, 
the age of the orchard ; second, the character of the 
soil in which it stands, whether sandy or clayey ; 
third, whether the location is on an elevated site, or 
on low land, or on land that needs draining ; fourth, 
whether the orchard has met with a misfortune, such 
as being defoliated bj the Canker worm ; fifth, how far 
apart the trees are planted ; sixth, how the trees have 
been pruned or trained. Since I know nothing in re¬ 
gard to the orchard in question, lean give but a vague 
reply. 
Orchards are sometimes barren owing to the fact 
that the soil on which the trees are planted does not 
contain the necessary fertility ; light sandy soils some¬ 
times come under this head. The second reason for 
barrenness is low, undrained soil, which is liable to 
late Spring frosts; third, it may be that varieties 
have been planted which do not fruit until many years 
have passed, such as Northern Spy. In addition to these 
causes for barrenness, there are unknown causes which 
baffle all the skill of the horticulturist. Where an 
orchard is growing vigorously, and has reached a bear¬ 
ing age, and is still not productive. I would recom¬ 
mend seeding down to clover with a view to beginning 
cultivation after the trees commence to bear. I be¬ 
lieve in cultivating orchards, but there are times when 
it is desirable to check growth a little in order to 
throw an orchard into bearing. chas, a. green. 
Monroe County, N. Y. 
Mr. Woodward Tells the Whole Story. 
This is a question as old as orcharding, but always 
new. At every meeting where fruitgrowers assemble, 
it bobs up, and is discussed as though never before 
under consideration, and when all are through, not 
one has changed his opinion. The reason of all this 
is that different soils under different conditions as to 
fertility, etc., have such a modifying effect upon the 
orchard that no man can say what is the very best 
treatment for the other man's orchard. I have given 
much close observation and study to this question, 
both in our own and other orchards, and my conclu¬ 
sion is that, unless a man will greatly overstock his 
orchard, when in grass with sheep and hogs, he would 
better keep it under constant cultivation. But if he 
will put on two or three times as many sheep and hogs 
as the land will support, and then feed them on the 
proper food, it will be very much better for the or¬ 
chard, will keep the trees in better shape, give him 
more fruit and better fruit than is possible to get by 
an 3 ? system of cultivation. 
Some of our orchards are and have been in grass so 
long that I can’t remember when they were plowed 
the last time, and some are constantly cultivated. 
One year with another, we get the most and best fruit 
on the uncultivated orchards. That is emphatically 
the case this year. 
If the Orleans County man’s trees are dark-colored, 
the leaves thick and rugose, and the trees make an 
average growth of a foot or more, the conditions must 
be favorable, and the cause of unfruitfulness above 
the soil. Under no circumstances would I advise him 
to leave his orchard in grass and mow it, no matter if he 
leaves the grass all on the ground as a mulch. Unless 
clover, the grass cannot add anything in the shape of 
fertility, as it will only return to the soil what it took 
from it, and in taking from the soil the elements of 
growth, the grass will in a dry time rob the trees of 
