842 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
November 26, 
This was used first on March 24 and 26, the two appli¬ 
cations from different sides of the trees being counted 
as one spraying. The second application was given on 
April 16 and 19, and Bordeaux with Paris-green added 
was used on May 14, when most of the bloom had 
fallen. 
COST AND RETURNS.—The total cost of caring 
for this orchard the present season is $40.75, divided 
GOOD TABLE MANNERS. Fig. 389. 
as follows: Spraying and material $19.65; trimming, 
mowing, etc., $1.10; picking, sorting and marketing 
(partly estimated), $15; rent of land, $5. The product 
of the orchard this season is as follows: One tree 
each of Yellow Transparent, Summer Queen and Fall 
Wine, five bushels per tree; Early Harvest, Red Astra- 
chan,. Golden Sweet* and Maiden Blush, one bushel 
each: six Ben Davis, 42 bushels; three Little Romanite, 
10 bushels; five Genet, 40 bushels; six Grimes Golden, 
30 bushels; six Rome Beauty, 20 bushels; two Winesap, 
24 bushels; two Missouri Pippin, 20 bushels; two Stark, 
15 bushels; and a few scattering varieties, Indian, Law- 
ver, Milam, etc., 10 bushels. Total, 230 bushels. These 
apples will grade about 60 per cent No. 1 and fancy. 
The Grimes, Rome Beauty and Winesap are bringing 
$1 per bushel, other varieties 80 cents, while the No. 2 
apples are selling at half these prices. This is in our 
local market, and these good prices are due to the 
fact that only a few orchards here were sprayed, and 
hence but little good fruit is obtainable. Most of my 
neighbors thought it a waste of time to spray this sea¬ 
son, as it looked as though there was scarcely any fruit 
set on, and early in the season I would have estimated 
my crop at less than 50 bushels, but it will net more than 
$100 profit for the season on less than two acres of 
ground. F. j. h. 
Canton, Ind. _•_ 
THE FERTILITY PROBLEM IN DAIRYING . 
What Grain Brings to the Farm. 
We have heard it said as an argument for dairying 
that the soil of a dairy farm cannot become exhausted 
because nothing is sold but milk, and the purchased 
grain adds large amounts of fertility. It is doubtful 
whether most of those who make this statement realize 
just what milk takes away and what grain brings in. 
At the New Jersey Experiment Station careful records 
were kept of all milk sold and of all grain purchased. 
In order to see how the fertility of the farm stands 
after deducting the plant food that was sold in the 
milk from that bought in the grain, accurate analyses 
were made. From the figures we have compiled the 
following table, which shows the results of seven years’ 
feeding grain and selling milk. No account is made 
of the fodder grown on the home farm. The question 
is—what leaves the farm when nothing but milk is 
sold and what comes to it? 
Amount Phosphoric 
tons. 
Nitrogen. 
acid. 
Potasli. 
Mh eat bran. 
, 90.75 
4680 
5542 
3084 
Dried brewers' grains. , 
. 84.15 
0156 
1852 
1 35 
Cornmeal . 
1202 
510 
293 
Linseed meal . 
, 14.45 
1547 
510 
398 
Malt sprouts . 
1.50 
134 
49 
57 
Cotton seed meal. 
1 1.75 
1620 
733 
456 
Gluten meal . 
1.50 
158 
17 
2 
Rice meal . 
9.10 
376 
490 
131 
Pea meal . 
1. 
32 
10 
20 
Buckwheat feed . 
. 4.85 
312 
197 
119 
Total . 
10213 
4695 
Bold in milk. 
7010 
2852 
»>*>*;*> 
Gain to farm. 
8603 
7070 
2473 
Fertility gained in seven years of grain feeding and 
seven years’ sales of milk. 
We easily see what this means. As a result of seven 
years’ feeding of 634.8 tons of purchased feed the farm 
gained 8,063 pounds of nitrogen, 7,070 pounds of phos¬ 
phoric acid, and only 2,473 pounds of potash. Put in 
another way, this means in seven years a gain equal to 
over 27 tons of nitrate of soda, nearly 30 tons of acid 
phosphate and only 2!j tons of muriate of potash. A 
farmer who is in the habit of using fertilizers will real 
ize what it means to use only 2]/ 2 tons of muriate in 
seven years, or only 350 pounds a year on the whole 
farm. Even this is on the supposition that all this 
plant food could be used by crops. That would be im¬ 
possible, for in average farming at least 40 per cent 
of it would be lost from the manure. The figures 
show what many of us fail to realize, that the greatest 
manurial gain from purchased feed is in nitrogen, with 
phosphoric acid next. Most grains contain but little 
potash. Wheat bran is the exception. In the case of 
this dairy herd onl}' 15 per cent .of the feed was wheat 
bran, yet it furnished more than half the potash in 
the entire lot. A study of these figures will make it 
clear why we argue that where large amounts of 
manure are made kainit should be used in the stable 
and on the manure piles. It not only “fixes” and holds 
the ammonia, but supplies potash, which, we can see, 
is not bought in the grain. 
DEER BROWSE APPLE TREES . 
I have 50 apple trees, set last Spring near the woods, that 
have been badly damaged by deer. The young branches have 
been eaten off close to the last season's growth as received 
from the nursery and some of the main stocks are broken. 
Most of the foliage and young branches were browsed off 
during the early Summer, so the trees must have received a 
severe shock from their loss. Now these 50 apple trees 
have a setback of one year at least, and if they fail to grow 
new tops next season I will be two years behind on my 
orchard besides the expense of buying new trees and setting. 
1 wish to claim damages from the State, but do not know 
just how much to charge. What would you consider the 
damage on 50 Baldwin apple trees browsed close to limbs, 
which means a loss of all this season’s growth of top? 
Two hundred apple trees set at the same time have grown 
nice tops and are all alive and thrifty. m. a. p. 
Brandon, Vt., 
It is very difficult to get anything like an accurate 
estimate on such a question as this. 1 should think 
25 to 30 cents would be about right, although I con¬ 
fess I wouldn’t allow the damage done to my own 
trees at that price. f. a. waugh. 
Mass. Exp. Station. 
I should say that a year’s setback of the apple trees 
mentioned would be amply compensated at from 25 to 
ROOTS AS AN ORCHARD CROP. Fig. 390. 
30 cents per tree. In the event of their failing to grow 
satisfactorily next season the damage or money loss 
would be considerably enhanced, say, from 50 to 75 cents 
per tree. william stuart. 
Vermont Exp. Station. 
Much depends on original cost of trees and value of 
the land in which they are set. If the soil had been 
well prepared and the trees received modern culture, 
according to business methods, I would consider each 
tree worth at the end of the first season’s growth not 
less than $1. The degree of damage should be reck¬ 
oned proportionately according to the injury sustained. 
New Hampshire Station. f. wm. rane. 
I should consider an apple tree that had made good 
growth for a year to be worth $1, and that it would 
gain in value $1 each year for the next five years; after 
that I should base its value on what it produced. Your 
correspondent’s trees are probably not injured as much 
as would appear by looks of trees at present. If the 
roots are established the loss of the growth this year 
will be nearly overcome next year; that is, the trees 
that were trimmed will nearly overtake the ones that 
escaped. Your estimate of from 25 to 40 cents per 
tree I should consider fair, with $1 if destroyed en¬ 
tirely. grant g. hitchings. 
Onondaga Co., N. Y. 
Good first-class apple trees set on good ground and 
properly cared for should increase in value $1 per year; 
when 10 years old they should be worth $10 per tree; 
they should pay a good interest on this amount. With 
trees injured by the deer, as stated by M. A. P., I can 
hardly say what the damage would be. If the trees 
were browsed off in midsummer they are about ruined. 
If the limbs are eaten off late, or say after the wood 
was matured so the roots are matured to stand the 
Winter’s frost, browsing will do but little harm, for 
they will come out next Spring and make a more vig¬ 
orous growth, perhaps, than if they had not been 
browsed off. The heading back of the top in Fall or 
Spring of a well-matured tree will cause a more lux¬ 
uriant growth the following season than if not cut back 
at all. The damage of these trees will depend largely 
on the time the eating off of the top occurred. If done 
in Summer, when the trees were growing vigorously 
and the wood immature, they are about worthless, and 
$1 per tree would be a fair price to claim for dam¬ 
ages. EDWIN HOYT. 
Connecticut. 
Proper priming of young orchard trees requires an 
intelligent brain and a skillful hand. It is the most 
difficult work which confronts the nurseryman, and in 
scarcely less degree disturbs the orchardist. To pro¬ 
mote growth pruning must be done while the trees are 
dormant, before the buds swell in the Spring, and on 
almost every species it would require that such work in 
this latitude should be performed as early as the 10th 
of April. To delay this cutting until the middle of 
May or first of June would diminish the growth of the 
tree for that season 50 per cent. If the trees to which 
M. A. P. refers were of the usual size, two years from 
the bud and six feet high, and were properly trimmed 
by cutting off two-thirds of the top when transplanted, 
all further pruning for that season would be detri¬ 
mental ; but the amount of damage done could be fixed 
with any justice only after personal examination bv an 
expert. Such pruning as would be done by a wild deer 
would soon convert apple trees into proper plants for 
defensive hedges by dwarfing and multiplying the num¬ 
ber of branches, for where a twig js bitten off, the tree 
at once sets itself at work to recover. A period of 
apparent rest intervenes; dormant buds near the end 
of the broken branch commence swelling and then 
bursting into growth; not in one limb only, but two, 
three or more twigs are compelled to make a feeble 
growth instead of one long and vigorous shoot. 
Whether the tree recovers from its stunted growth 
caused by untimely pruning is doubtful. Horsemen 
aver that a healthy colt is much more promising of 
future usefulness than one that has been dwarfed 
by lack of proper food and care. One idea is becom¬ 
ing more and more self-evident; that orchards to be 
a source of profit must have the most thorough and 
intelligent treatment from the time the trees are selected 
and planted until the harvest. Dr. Boring’s orchard 
motto was “a short life and a merry one.” An orchard 
defoliated by deer is little if any better than an orchard 
stripped by canker-worms, only that the deer usually 
lets some healthy leaves remain. Deer running at large 
would cause the trees like the above-named to be very 
irregular in their growth; so much so that their owner 
might determine that it would be more profitable en¬ 
tirely to remove the trees and plant anew. While as 
at present advised, I do not think so, an inspection 
might lead to such a decision, and that the damage 
done was not less than the original cost of the trees 
and preparation of the ground, planting and subse¬ 
quent cultivation. j. w. ada.ms. 
Massachusetts. 
PROJECTING BARN FOUNDATION.—L. R. P. 
(page 813) will do well to make a protecting cover of 
the cement laid on the foundation wall by nailing a 
strip of siding to the wall, making a tight joint and 
filling in the joint with paint, so as to shed rain. I have 
seen a foundation damaged by the freezing of water of 
rain beaten in by storms so as to crack and break up the 
cement. To make a perfect job I have had the founda¬ 
tion sills laid in cement so as perfectly to exclude rain. 
GOOD DIGESTION WAITS ON APPETITE. Fig. 391. 
I have seen the sills badly rotted for want of this simple 
precaution. This is a great improvement on the com¬ 
mon plan, which permits snow and rain to beat in in 
storms. If the wall is of siding there is nothing to show 
the joint. If of upright boards these fit tight at the 
bottom to the sloping layer of cement. This is a valua¬ 
ble improvement, as it does away with an enticing shelter 
for vermin in the basement. h. Stewart. 
