2 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
January 3 
tion to old Cypres, who has stood heavy feeding for 
nearly 19 years, and to-day her udder and teats are 
in as perfect condition as when she was a heifer. As 
long as you are able to milk it out, don’t be afraid to 
put the feed into a dairy cow. 
CULTIVATING APPLE ORCHARDS. 
THE RESULTS OF AN EXPERIMENT. 
In the fall of 1894, the sod was broken about four 
King apple trees. These trees were 26 years old, and 
the sod had been undisturbed except during the first 
three years after the orchard was planted. 
Early in April, 1895, the land was fer¬ 
tilized with sulphate of potash at the 
rate of 750 pounds per acre; then the 
earth was made fine by means of a disk 
harrow. During the latter part of the 
same month, the soil about four more 
trees was plowed and harrowed, and 
in May, this was also fertilized as above. 
All the plowed portion, known as plot I., 
was at the same time cultivated ; the soil 
was again stirred in July. 
When the apples were picked in the 
fall, it was noticed that those produced 
upon the cultivated area were larger, and 
they were, also, from a week to 10 days 
later. This was naturally explained by 
saying that the cultivation had set free 
nitrogen, and that, in consequence, the 
activities of the trees were directed more 
towards growth than towards maturing 
the fruit. The lateness of the ripening 
was estimated by the slow coloring of 
the apples. The Kings upon the culti¬ 
vated trees were not less than a full 
week behind the others in this respect. 
The experiment was continued in 1896. Thorough 
cultivation was given, and also a second heavy dress- 
ing of potash, the form used this year being the 
muriate. The fertilizer was applied May 14, so that 
the trees could have the benefit of the treatment 
throughout most of the growing season. But only a 
short time was necessary to show the effects of culti¬ 
vation and feeding. Early in June, the color of the 
foliage upon the treated plot was so much darker, 
that, without exaggeration, this area could be dis¬ 
tinguished at a distance of over a quarter of a mile. 
Travelers along the road noticed it repeatedly. How 
much the blooming of the trees was affected, it is 
difficult to say. There appeared to be, practically, as 
many blossoms upon the untreated trees as upon the 
others. But a difference was soon to be seen when 
the “June-drop,” or falling of the young apples began 
to occur. Much more fruit remained upon the fer¬ 
tilized trees, and a larger amount was also matured. 
The yield may be said to have been dou¬ 
bled by the treatment. ' 1 ‘ 
When the experiment was begun, the 
main object was to determine the effects 
of both tillage and fertilization; but other 
work now appeared to be necessary 
before satisfactory conclusion could be 
reached. The question immediately arose 
as to how much of the result named 
above was due to the fertilizer, and how 
much was due to cultivation ? Two more 
plots were selected during the middle of 
June. One was plowed and cultivated ; 
the other was treated with muriate of 
potash at the rate of 750 pounds per 
acre, but the sod remained undisturbed. 
The last cultivation of the plowed areas 
occurred July 15, and from this time the 
orchard was allowed to care for itself. 
As the season advanced, it was in¬ 
teresting to observe the behavior of the 
different plots. Plot I., that both plowed 
and fertilized, remained dark green and 
thrifty ; the leaves were large, and, ap¬ 
parently, strong and healthy. As already 
stated, the amount of fruit which re¬ 
mained upon the trees was, practically, 
twice as great as in other parts of the 
orchard. But the apples colored slowly in the fall. 
Plot II., the portion receiving fertilizers but no 
plowing, showed no change of color in the foliage, 
and no increase in the yield was apparent. The most 
marked result which could be observed was that the 
fruit colored -slowly, but still this took place more 
rapidly than in Plot I. 
Plot III. was plowed and cultivated but received no 
fertilizer; no marked effect of the treatment could 
be seen. The size, color and quantity of the fruit 
resembled that of untreated trees. All this fruit 
averaged somewhat smaller than that produced on 
the cultivated plots, but it was more highly colored. 
It is difficult to draw many definite conclusions 
from the above experiment at the present time, but 
the following points may be of interest to readers 
who have recently contributed articles on this sub¬ 
ject : The breaking of the sod in an orchard, espec¬ 
ially if the sod has been undisturbed for several years, 
has a tendency to produce larger foliage and also 
larger fruit. This may, probably, be explained by 
the fact that nitrogen is set free by the decay of the 
vegetable matter and that the stirring of the soil 
increases the available supply of moisture. It is 
known that such conditions increase the vegetative 
activity of plants. The extremely dark and thrifty 
appearance of the foliage upon the cultivated and 
well to consider this effect of clean cultivation in apple 
orchards before adopting the practice on an extensive 
scale. When but small amounts of sod are turned 
under, the effect would, probably, not be so great; 
but all practices which tend to stimulate the vegeta¬ 
tive processes of the trees may have a tendency to do 
so at the expense of earliness of maturity and density 
of color. Local conditions must determine the best 
method to adopt. 
The above treatment is not advanced as being the 
best, even for the orchard under consideration. The 
fertilization has been very heavy, and the cultivation 
thorough. It was desired to learn the 
effects of somewhat extreme treatments. 
With these as a basis, more intelligent 
plans may be made for any particular 
locality. e. o. i.odkman. 
Cornell University. 
THE ACME POTATO. Fig. 3 . See Ruealisms, Page 7 . 
fertilized plot may be due to the increased-supply of 
nitrogen, or to the action of potash, or to both of 
these influences. It is probable that the result is due 
to both causes, but the influence of each can, as yet, 
scarcely be estimated. 
The increased yield upon the fertilized and culti¬ 
vated plot can scarcely be ascribed to an increased 
supply of nitrogen. It was, therefore, probably due 
either to the potash or to the small amount of root 
pruning which took place when the land was plowed. 
The common opinion is that root-pruning increases 
fruitfulness, more especially by increasing the num¬ 
ber of blossoms upon a plant. But all the trees in the 
orchard had, apparently, an equal number of blos¬ 
soms ; the essential difference was seen in the 
amounts of fruit which dropped from the trees early 
in the season. Logically, it would seem that a more 
generous food supply was the cause of the trees holding 
the excess of fruit, and the facts point toward potash 
SOME TALKS WITH FARMERS. 
A few days ago, while chatting with 
a farmer—I should say, soil scratcher— 
he remarked : “These are about the hard¬ 
est times I ever monkeyed with. Corn 
worth only 15 cents a bushel, hogs two- 
and-a-half or three cents, and creditors 
howling at a feller’s heels every time he 
comes to town ! Why, it’s enough to drive 
a man out of the country ! ” 
“What’s wheat worth?” I asked, 
casually. 
“ Wheat! Wheat is selling at 90 cents 
now, but that doesn’t do me any good ; I 
have none to sell.” 
“ What are eggs worth ? ” 
“ Eighteen cents, my wife says; but 
our'hens quit laying several weeks ago, 
and so we have none of them to sell.” 
“ What breed of fowls do you keep ? ” 
“Oh, just the common kind—black, white and 
speckled. I’m not much stuck on these fancy kinds. 
They’re more for show than anything else.” 
“ Yours don’t lay much in fall and winter, do 
they ? ” 
“No ; we don’t get any eggs in winter. Our hens 
haven’t a very good place to roost in, anyway. I 
don’t monkey with chickens; my wife looks after 
them. A man that runs a farm has too many things 
to look after to fool away time on hens.” 
Pause of several minutes. 
“Well, you have your corn husked; what are you 
doing now ? ” 
“ Loafing, mostly. Winter is a farmer’s loafing 
time, you know ; and I reckon that I shall put in 
most of my time at it till spring ! ” 
“ Good time to build a poultry house,” I suggested, 
moving off. 
THE SOMERSET POTATO. Fig. 3 . See-Ruralisms, Page 7 . 
as being the most active agent in bringing about the 
result. 
The last point which requires particular mention is 
the color of the fruit. The apples produced upon the 
plot which was, in all probability, the richest in 
nitrogen, were late, and they were also poorly colored. 
This occurred in spite of the large amounts of avail¬ 
able potash which were present, and potash is gener¬ 
ally considered to be a fertilizer which possesses an 
especial value for deepening the color of fruits. Buyers 
described the fruit as appearing “ dead” ; there was 
wanting the deep, rich glow which a properly matured 
King apple should exhibit over more or less of its sur¬ 
face. The commercial value of the fruit was, unques¬ 
tionably impaired, and growers of red apples will do 
“ Well, Mike did it to-day ! ” said a 
leading chair bottomer, enthusiastically, 
as he planted his heels firmly against the 
upper story of the store stove. 
“ Did what ?” I asked. 
“ Sold $367 worth of hogs ! Best lot of 
hogs brought in this fall. I tell you, old 
Mike is lining his pockets in good shape, 
if times are hard. Wish I had a nice little 
bunch of about 50 to run off just about 
now. Wouldn’t they bring a feller out o 
the kinks ? Mike’s hogs were six months 
old and they averaged 192 pounds, and 
they brought him $3 10 right here. By 
George, but wouldn’t a feller feel nice if 
he had about a hundred like ’em ? ” 
I feel perfectly safe in saying that if his 
opportunities were 50 percent better than 
Mike’s ever were, he never would possess 
25 good hogs. I felt like telling him so, 
but instead, I sought Mike. 
A big, hearty, businesslike German with 
a broad, good-natured smile on his face, 
came hustling along the street. 
“How do you do, Mike ?” said I, ex¬ 
tending my hand. 
“ How are you, Fred ; I’m pretty well at present! 
How goes it with you ?” and he grasped my hand and 
shook as heartily as though he hadn’t seen me in five 
years. 
“You sold a lot of hogs to-day. How many did you 
raise this year ?” 
“ About 95, I think.” 
“ When were they farrowed ?” 
“ Mostly in April ; a few a little later.” 
“ What did you raise them on—that is, how did you 
feed them all summer, and what did you finish off on?” 
“They ran on grass, mostly clover, with the sows. 
They had a little corn along, and after my oats were 
thrashed, I fed them both oats and corn, as much of 
both as they-would eat-when the weather got cooler. 
