1898 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
831 
Property on a Good Road. 
The editorial note on roads, taxes and values on 
page 804, suggests an item on our experience at Grand 
Rapids. Years ago, we had the vilest roads imaginable, 
and with all our agitation, we could not succeed in 
securing any plan of operations under our system of 
taxation that would remedy the matter. A few pub¬ 
lic-spirited citizens, under our toll-road statute, took 
hold of matters, and as a result, we soon had eight 
toll roads built of excellent gravel, reaching out in as 
many directions, like the spokes of a wheel, for dis¬ 
tances of from five to 12 miles. Some of these roads 
have been well managed and have paid fair dividends; 
but as a whole, I question whether they have paid 
an annual six per cent on the investment, and at the 
end of the charters, the capital will be extinguished. 
But one result indicates strongly the 
effect of the movement. Our market 
gardens have extended out on these 
roads, and intensive farming, which re¬ 
quires high manuring, has been taken 
up along these highways, increasing 
materially the value of the farms, 
and generally changing for the better 
the character of the country. One man, 
an original stockholder in one of the 
companies, immediately upon the com¬ 
pletion of the road sold his stock, 
against all the advice of his associates, 
and quietly invested in lana several 
miles out from the city on the line of 
the road. lie was more shrewd than 
his associates, for in three years he 
had doubled his money in the sale of 
his holdings, and the stockholders se¬ 
cured only a fair interest on their 
investment. This illustrates the 
shortsightedness, however, of the abut¬ 
ting tax payers, because all the advan¬ 
tages would have accrued if the farmers 
had built their own roads, and they 
would have saved the payment of the 
dividends to the corporation, and owned the roads. 
Michigan. ciias. w. garfield. 
Cox’s Orange Pippin Apple. 
On page 756, you refer to Cox’s Orange Pippin. It 
is classed by one or two authorities as tender in 
America, on what tests, I do not know. It would 
seem, however, that it has been tried and found want¬ 
ing. When I visited England two years ago, I was 
much struck with this variety, and brought back cut¬ 
tings or scions of it, as well as of about 50 other apples 
and pears. They are under test at the Missoula nur¬ 
series. None of the pears survived the first Winter, 
a severe one ; a good many of the apples also suc¬ 
cumbed, among them two out of three of Cox’s Orange 
Pippin, which looked well all Summer. 
The survivor looks well at this date, 
and a further trial may prove it not as 
tender as we think it is. I will let you 
know later the results of this experi¬ 
mental planting. 
I was led to import these varieties 
from the fact that I found in the Eng¬ 
lish market no varieties really appre¬ 
ciated for my lady’s dessert table. The 
Newtown Pippin was the nearest, but 
who would admire a dessert dish filled 
to the brim with one gigantic Baldwin or 
King, when compared with the same 
dish of delicate, aromatic Cox’s Orange 
Pippins, 12 or 14 of them in the same 
space? I placed a perfect specimen, 
chosen from the apple house of Mr. 
George Bunyard, of the Maidstone 
Nurseries, Kent, England, on exhibition 
at our midwinter horticultural meet¬ 
ing on my return. The western news¬ 
paper men, far from making a note such 
as yours, referred to the first English 
apple ever exhibited in Montana, but said that it 
compared badly with the magnificent specimens of 
Montana fruit on the table, “showing,” said one, 
“ that it is impossible to raise as good fruit in Eng¬ 
land as in Montana.” 
I expect that, at no distant date, this section will 
be a large shipper of apples, the increase of acreage of 
orchards being phenomenal. Many who have already 
500 to 600 acres in orchard, make a point of setting 
out 100 acres a year, a 40-acre orchard being considered 
too small to count. There has been quite a demand 
for a good crop this year, on account of the short crop 
in other parts, and a great many car-loads have been 
sent out of the State. Railroad rates have been in 
the past prohibitive, but the Northern Pacific Rail¬ 
road and Great Northern are waking up and giving 
better rates, so perhaps, in years to come, we may be 
able to ship Cox’s Orange Pippins to England. 
Missoula, Mont. u. c. B. c. 
CULTIVATION AND CARE OF ORCHARDS. 
BENEFITS FROM CLEAN CULTURE. 
Keep the Sod Out. —The proper care and culti¬ 
vation of orchards have been receiving much more 
attention in recent years than ever before. Many of 
the worn-out and dying orchards throughout the 
country, are in this condition largely because of neg¬ 
lect. The trouble is often attributed to blight, sun- 
scald, freezing in Winter, injury from drought, and 
so on. The real trouble is largely lack of care. The 
Illinois Experiment Station (Champaign) has been 
making some valuable experiments during the past 10 
years. The first two or three years, the work was not 
very systematic, but the general results showed that 
the effect of the cultivation was to conserve the soil 
moisture. No way is usually practicable, by which 
the soil can be kept continuously moist through the 
Summer, except by preventing evaporation of water 
from the surface by means of a dust mulch. To se¬ 
cure this, frequent shallow cultivation must be 
practiced. 
The experiments referred to began in 1887-8, and 
are recorded in Bulletin No. 52. In 1890, a portion of 
ground was set aside for more systematic develop¬ 
ment of the experiment. Six rows of trees were 
planted in this subdivision of the orchard, three of 
Ben Davis, and three of Grimes Golden. The first of 
these was cultivated clean; the second was cropped 
with oats; the third with corn ; the fourth with 
clover, and the fifth was seeded with Blue grass. 
This system of cropping and cultivating has been 
continued to the present time, and the results of the 
experiment are shown in Fig. 380. 
The illustration shows a typical tree from each of 
the five plots. The tree marked 1 shows the growth 
secured by clean cultivation; 2 is convincing proof 
that oats are not a good crop for a growing young or¬ 
chard ; 3, grown in corn, seems to have made a good 
growth ; and this is also true of 4, which grew in the 
clover plot; but the marked inferiority of 5 , which 
grew in the Blue-grass sod, needs no argument to 
prove that a sod is not the thing for growing trees. 
Not only in size of top were these trees from the cul¬ 
tivated plot superior, but in size of trunk and in 
abundant and healthful foliage, they also surpass the 
others. In this respect, also, the ones from the corn 
plot were also superior. The point seems to be that 
the cultivation did the work. 
It is also stated that the trunks of the trees in the 
corn plot averaged about the same or slightly larger 
than those in the cultivated plot. But one thing 
must be taken into account here; the trees were 
planted only 15 feet apart each way, and in a few 
years the spaces between were so shaded that the 
corn grew to less than half its normal size, so that it 
did not make such draughts on the soil for water and 
plant food, as it would had the corn grown to full 
size. Other experiments at the start have shown that 
the cropping of mature orchards with corn has a dele¬ 
terious effect upon the trees. 
How the Soil Is Stirred.— The tools used in this 
orchard cultivation are such as are found on nearly 
every farm, and are shown in Fig. 381. The plow is 
the ordinary breaking plow, and was used for the 
first Spring cultivation. This was then followed by 
the disk and spring-tooth harrows, and if the ground 
is dry and the plow and harrow have 
left hard lumps, the roller is next used 
for the purpose of fining these lumps, 
after which the entire orchard is gone 
over with the smoothing harrow. For 
later cultivation, the most desirable 
implement is the spring-tooth, al¬ 
though the disk* harrow is said to be 
extremely useful for the purpose of 
reducing the ridges left by the former 
tools, and the evaporating surface 
thus afforded. Cultivation should be 
carried as near to the trunks of the 
trees as possible. Care must be exer¬ 
cised in working under overhanging 
tops. All the implements shown allow 
of working close to the trees, but the 
harness must have no projecting hames 
or terrets, leather loops being used 
in place of the latter. Long whilfie- 
trees must be discarded. They recom¬ 
mend a harness of the Sherwood type, 
as the most satisfactory for this kind 
of work. After heavy rains, the surface 
must be broken with a smoothing har¬ 
row and, if very much compacted by 
extremely heavy showers, it may be necessary to use 
the spring-tooth or disk harrow. In very dry sea¬ 
sons, a weekly cultivation is advisable. 
The subsoil plow shown in Fig. 381 is used to fit the 
land before the trees are set, if there is a hard sub¬ 
soil within two feet of the surface. On light prairie 
soils, where the hard subsoil is lower than this, the 
subsoiling is considered superfluous. The land, if not 
naturally well drained, should be tile drained, par¬ 
ticularly if it has a stiff and rather impervious sub¬ 
soil. The Station emphasizes the truth that the care 
the orchard gets during its first six or eight years, 
largely determines its ultimate value ; this being the 
case, directions given in regard to the care and crop¬ 
ping of the young orchard are doubly important. 
Money and time thus spent will pay a 
good rate of interest. 
HOLIDAYS IN NLW YORK STATE. 
A holiday is a secular day upon 
which the usual obligations of labor, 
attendance upon courts, and attention 
to notices and services, and service in 
legal proceedings are, by law, remitted. 
In a sense, Sunday is a holiday, but as 
the word is usually employed, it does 
not include Sundays; thus 1 ' Sundays 
and Holidays ” is a common and correct 
expression. 
The matter of holidays is usually 
neglected by statutes or local usage ; 
Sundays and the Fourth of July are 
generally observed in this country. In 
addition to those, the following are 
commonly observed: Thanksgiving Day 
(appointed by the President and Gover¬ 
nors); Christmas Day; New Year’s Day; 
Washington’s Birthday; Decoration 
Day and General Election Day. But no National 
holidays are recognized by the Federal Statute. 
In New York, an act to amend the Statutory Con¬ 
struction Law, in relation to public holidays, became 
a law on May 19, 1897, and reads as follows : 
Section 24, Chap, (m —Public Holidays ; Half Holi¬ 
days .—The term holiday includes the following days 
in each year: The first day of January, known as New 
Year’s Day ; the twelfth day of February, known as 
Lincoln’s Birthday ; the twenty-second day of Febru¬ 
ary, known as Washington’s Birthday ; the thirtieth 
day of May, known as Memorial Day ; the fourth day 
of July, known as Independence Day; the fi’-st Mon¬ 
day in September, known as Labor Day, and the 
twenty-fifth day of December, known as Christmas 
Day, and if either of such days is Sunday, the next 
day thereafter ; each general election day and each 
day appointed by the President or by the Governor as 
a day of general thanksgiving, general fasting 
TREES ILLUSTRATING DIFFERENT METHODS OF CULTURE. Fig. 380. 
1. Clean Cultivation. 2. Oats in the Orchard. 3. Corn. 4. Clover Sod. 5. Blue Grass. 
TOOLS USED IN ORCHARD CULTIVATION. Fig. 381. 
