1897 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
259 
lead its readers to believe. At my place, I have found 
the corrosive sublimate treatment a sure preventive 
when soil conditions were favorable. When I first 
began treating, I selected several bushels of scabby 
potatoes, the worst that could be found, some speci¬ 
mens being completely covered, so that an eye 
could not be seen. I treated them, and planted on 
a field that had not grown potatoes for a number 
of years. At digging time, not more than two 
per cent of the crop showed any trace of the scab, 
and those only slightly. But the work was very 
carefully done; no box, bag or barrel that had 
contained scabby potatoes was used to handle the 
seed. The planter was also disinfected before using, 
thereby cutting off any possible means of introducing 
the germs from other sources. 
The next year, the seed was again treated, and pro¬ 
duced a smooth crop, except a spot in the field where 
an old barn had formerly stood ; here the tubers were 
quite badly affected, showing that it was the soil 
conditions that produced the germs. To prove fur¬ 
ther the benefits to be received from treating, I 
planted side by side in clear soil those having pre¬ 
viously been treated, and diseased tubers. The un¬ 
treated produced their like, and the treated a smooth 
crop. With these facts before us, it seems to me that 
M. M. will find that there are conditions existing in 
his soil which produced the scab, and his failure 
should not be attributed to the “station teachings.” I 
think that, if he will give the corrosive sublimate 
treatment a fair test another season, he will be satis¬ 
fied with results. l. d. gale. 
Chautauqua County, N. Y. 
ORCHARD CULTURE IN THE WEST. 
Many of our readers have read about the great fruit 
orchards in Kansas and Missouri. In some instances, 
1,000 acres of apples are grown in one block. Readers 
will naturally wonder how such immense orchards 
are cared for, how they 
are fertilized, and what 
tools are used. The fol¬ 
lowing notes will give 
us an idea of two differ¬ 
ent systems followed in 
western orchards. 
Spading Harrows and 
Cow Peas. 
The treatment of or¬ 
chards and the tools 
used vary widely in 
different parts of the 
West. In the central 
and northern part of 
Missouri, where the 
lands are mostly allu¬ 
vial, and clear of stone 
or gravel, and where an 
orchard is seldom planted on any but the best 
land, the plow, cultivator and some of the various 
forms of harrows now made are used. But in the 
Ozark region, or southern one-third of the State, 
where the large orchards have been planted, and 
where much of the land is stony or gravelly, a very 
different treatment is required. 
New land, after being prepared, is planted to 
orchard, and two or three crops of corn are grown 
with ordinary corn culture, leaving the stalks to rot 
and return so much fertility to the soil, after which 
the Morgan Spading harrow is run from early spring 
until the first of June, going about three times each 
way, which is equal in cost to a little more than one 
good plowing, but is the very best cultivation that 
could be given it. At the last going over with the 
harrow we broadcast one bushel to the acre of cow 
peas. The peas are soon up to shade the land through 
the heat of summer, and have ample time to make a 
good crop, which comes very handy to feed down to 
hogs after the fruit is picked. The same is repeated 
year after year, and the land is constantly increased 
in fertility. We have demonstrated by repeated 
practical tests that this plan is as good for the fer¬ 
tility of the land as plowing under the crop while 
green ; besides, it cheapens and simplifies the work of 
the entire year. If the winter, however, has been 
warm and wet, and the land has run together and 
packed, it may be necessary to use either the cultivator 
or one-horse turning plow for the first working. 
In the treatment of orchards, our motto is, thorough 
cultivation and ample fertilization, and in the above 
we have the happy combination. We are in need of 
no new tools or any commercial fertilizer. The cow 
pea will grow on any land and is a wonderful fer¬ 
tilizer ; the cultivation from early spring until June 
is ample, and at the proper time for the orchard, and 
the peas will take care of it the rest of the year, keep¬ 
ing down all noxious weeds and grass, and making 
the land loose and mellow. j. c. evans. 
Missouri. 
No Plowing in this Orchard. 
Our specialty is small fruits and pears. The tools 
used in our berry fields are the Planet Jr. cultivator, 
disk pulverizers and garden hoes. The disk is used 
to subdue weeds and pulverize the soil in two and 
three-year-old berry fields. While the disk does not 
clear the row entirely of weeds, it is cut down to the 
desired width and the soil put into better shape than 
with the common turning plow. 
Our pear orchard was planted 25 years ago. In the 
A BABY GOOSEBERRY PLANT. Fia. 111 . 
beginning, 40 acres were planted, but it has been so 
reduced by blight that there are but about 20 acres 
now. No plowing has been done in this orchard the 
past 12 years. It is covered over with weeds and 
clover, which are mowed off before they take on the 
hard, woody growth. By cutting them down when 
soft and full of sap, they become a fertilizing power 
that is good for pears. During the fall and winter, 
some manure and old wheat straw (when we have it) 
are scattered about the roots of the trees. This is all 
the treatment this pear orchard has had the past 12 
years, and I am well assured that the trees are in 
much better shape and turning out much better crops, 
than if we were plowing and teariDg up the roots. 
The most successful apple growers of the State 
treat their orchards pretty much in the same way. 
Owing to the extremes of drought and rainfall in our 
State, it is believed by many fruit growers, that too 
frequent stirring the soil in our orchards, after they 
are 10 or 12 years old, is not good for the orchard, 
or to be compared to the benefit that the orchard will 
receive from manuring, and mowing the clover and 
weed growth at the proper time. But if it become 
necessary for the soil to be stirred in an old apple or 
pear orchard, I would never use a turning plow, if a 
disk or some other cutter pulverizer could be had. It 
will pulverize the soil sufficiently with scarcely any 
damage to the roots of the trees. As to the working 
of green crops into the soil, I have had no experience, 
but I would use the disk cultivator or pulverizer. If 
green crops are to be worked into the soil of open 
fields, the common turning plow is what we use. 
Kansas. b. f. smith. 
THE GOOSEBERRY; FROM BUD TO FRUIT. 
HOW TO START THE BABY PLANTS. 
How to Keep Them on the Run. 
Among the various canoed and preserved fruits that 
annually stock our cellar shelves so abundantly, and 
which daily find their way to our table throughout 
the months of winter and early spring, none is more 
attractive, tempting, sprightly, delicious and health¬ 
ful than our Downing gooseberries. Being easily 
grown, very productive and quite ornamental in form, 
foliage and fruit, when properly cared for, this fruit 
deserves a place in every home garden. It is also one 
of the most readily propagated of all plants. From 
a single strong, two-year-old plant set this spring, 
one might easily secure, at least, 10 or 12 well-rooted 
cuttings next autumn. I have three rows containing 
75 fine plants, all of which were taken, in the form 
of rooted cuttings, from six two-year-old plants. To 
secure these rooted cuttings, the plant purchased for 
propagation should, at the time of planting, have its 
laterals or branches cut back to three or four strong 
buds each. Each of these buds will produce a vigor¬ 
ous shoot. In July, the entire plant should be banked 
with fine, mellow soil in such a way that the base of 
each new shoot will be covered to the depth of three 
or four inches. In November, this bank of earth 
should be carefully removed and the young shoots, 
which will have become well rooted, severed from the 
parent plant and firmly set, one foot apart, in a nur¬ 
sery row, which should be well mulched with strawy 
manure to prevent heaving by frost. In one year 
from planting, with good culture, these cuttings will 
have developed into fine, heavily-rooted plants, very 
desirable for permanent planting ; or, if two-year-old 
plants are preferred, they may be cultivated another 
season in the nursery row. In Fig. Ill are shown 
samples of our strong, home-grown plants produced 
by the method described above. 
Cool, moist, well-drained soil, thoroughly enriched, 
is especially suitable 
for producing the finest 
gooseberries. It should 
be well prepared and 
re-fined. The plants 
should be set not closer 
than 4x5 feet apart. 
The holes should be dug 
sufficiently large to 
allow the roots to be 
spread out in a natural 
position. In preparing 
the plants for setting, 
gather the roots in the 
left hand and, with the 
pruners, shear off three 
or four inches of their 
extremities, at the line 
indicated with the pen 
at Fig. 111. Theheadof 
the plant should also be thinned out, leaving but four 
to six strong branches, and these cut back, at least, 
one-half. The plant should be set an inch deeper than 
it stood in the nursery row, and the soil well firmed 
upon the roots. Under clean culture—supposing the 
plants used to have been two years old—they will have 
developed, by autumn, into a symmetrical, tree-like 
form as shown at Fig. 114. 
The pruning, in the spring following, will consist 
in thinning out all branches that extend toward the 
center of the bush, and cutting back those that re¬ 
main fully one-half. This leaves the plant as shown 
at Fig. 112. This not only induces a vigorous 
growth of new wood, but promotes the formation of 
fruit buds and fruiting spurs upon the old. 
At the close of the second season after planting, 
the bush will appear as in Fig. 113. The pruning of 
this will likewise consist in courageously thinning 
out and cutting back the previous season’s growth. 
At this age (the third season), the plant should pro¬ 
duce quite a crop of fine fruit. Subsequent prunings 
are practically the same—with the exception that, as 
the plants lose vigor with age, they may be removed 
by removing the old branches entire, which will 
induce the formation of a new head. Our plants or 
bushes, so far, have never shown a trace of mildew ; 
but should it make its appearance, we would promptly 
spray with liver of sulphur—one-half ounce to a 
gallon of water. The currant worm, may be easily, 
safely and completely annihilated by spraying with 
white hellebore—one ounce to three gallons of water. 
The gooseberry patch should be either annually 
cultivated or given a thorough mulch. In the future, 
we shall use a heavy covering of forest leaves and 
leaf mold, sufficient to keep down all weeds and pre¬ 
vent the evaporation of moisture from the soil. From 
Downing plants four years old, we picked, last 
season, as many as six quarts of fine, large berries. 
Why not include, in that order, at least one-half 
dozen gooseberry plants ? r. H. ballou. 
Ohio. 
