29o 
THE 
RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
May 1 
when cut down level with the ground were 10 to 12 
inches in diameter, and two feet to 28 inches apart, 
and each tree had a few long branches from top to 
bottom on the east and west sides. Suppose that I 
had planted a double row, even though the two rows 
had been two rods apart, it would have been an un¬ 
sightly belt, for the eastern row would lean to the 
east and the western row to the west, to get the light, 
and in time, the trees would have only a narrow strip 
of foliage on one of the sides, and in less than 20 
years, the double belt would be a failure, as every 
one has been. 
If a shelter belt is used only for shelter and not for 
looks. I would advise Scotch pine on an exposed knoll 
of stiff clay, such as described, as it grows rapidly 
without any care, and is a cheap tree, but Norway 
spruce in that climate would be ornamental and use¬ 
ful. I would advise subsoiling a strip 20 or 30 feet 
wide and plow a little fertilizer or well-rotted manure 
into the surface soil before planting. Plant a single 
row of transplanted trees so closely, that the sides of 
the trees meet each other. After that, the belt will 
grow on without special care. He may either clip 
the sides or let it grow without trimming ; it will be 
ornamental either way, as the Norway spruce holds 
its lower limbs remarkably, and will be clothed com¬ 
pletely to the ground, even when it begins to thin at 
the top from old age. As to the kind of trees for a 
hedge or belt, Norway spruce, White pine and Arbor- 
vitm are all good and ornamental. Red cedar is an 
exception, as the trees kill the foliage on each other. 
Where a belt is required partially to break the wind 
and, at the same time, leave a circulation of air, the 
European larch is a good tree, and the alternate trees 
can be cut out for farm posts. The White pine makes 
a fresh, green ornamental and beautiful belt if kept 
trimmed in, but requires the leader to be shortened 
to encourage the lower growth. The trees for such 
belts as named should have been transplanted before 
placing in hedge or belt. Small trees cost least by the 
thousand, but many more are required. The closer the 
trees are planted, the faster they increase in height. 
Waukegan, Ill. Robert douglas. 
Simple Way to Plant. 
I would recommend the Norway spruce for the 
wind-breaks proposed by your correspondent. I 
would prepare the ground by plowing and harrowing 
well, and would plant the trees at once, placing the 
rows 10 feet apart, and the trees 10 feet apart in the 
row, planting them in such a way that the tree in 
one row is opposite to the center of the space between 
the trees in the other row. I would mulch the trees 
well, and would keep weeds down until the trees 
shade the ground sufficiently to do this. I should 
purchase trees not to exceed two feet in height. In 
case the correspondent desires to plant more than one 
species of evergreen, I would suggest that he adopt 
the American arbor-vitae for a part of the planting. 
Wisconsin. e. s. goff. 
RAISING PLUMS FOR THE HOME. 
PLANTING IN BLOCKS OF SEVEN. 
On my home place, in the spring of 1890, we set out 
three clumps of plum trees, seven trees in a cluster, 
with one as a center and six others on the circumfer¬ 
ence of a circle 18 feet in diameter arranged at equal 
distances about the center tree. Two of the clusters 
are native plums—Weaver, DeSoto and Forest Gar¬ 
den—and the third cluster contained part native 
plums and three Green Gages. The trees were six to 
eight feet high when set, came into bearing in 1893, and 
have borne every year since. In 1894, we picked 9 5 
bushels of ripe fruit from the two clumps of native 
plums, or from 12 trees, one treedn one clump having 
been broken down by accident, and the other nearly 
ruined by red spiders. In 1895, we were absent in 
Europe from June until October, and no record was 
kept of the yield, but in 1896, the yield from the same 
trees was 7.75 bushels. We also had from the three 
Green Gage trees, 3 25 bushels the past season. 
In caring for these trees, we have kept a coop of 
chickens under each cluster, and thus far, our trees 
have carried even more fruit to maturity than was 
proper for them to carry. The ground under the 
trees has been kept mulched most of the time, and 
when first set, the whole area in the clusters was cov¬ 
ered with coarse horse manure, and last fall I gave 
them a second dressing. In midsummer, if the mulch 
has become thin, I have developed a soil mulch under 
the trees and have kept the ground free from weeds. 
Fig. 124, first page, shows one of these clumps in 1894, 
when the fruit was mature. Fig. 122 shows the 
second clump of plums in September, 1896, with a 
chicken coop still under it. Fig. 125 is a closer view 
of a single tree in the same clump, and Fig. 123 shows 
how closely the fruit was clustered on the branches. 
These trees, at this writing, are all looking well 
and vigorous, and promise to be as productive as they 
have been. This method of planting makes it pos¬ 
sible to care for the trees easily, whether cultivating, 
watering or protecting them from curculios. I 
believe, also, that they are much easier to be fertil¬ 
ized than they are when planted singly or farther 
apart in rows. We have never yet sprayed the trees 
or done anything to prevent the ravages of the cur- 
culio except the use of the brood of chickens. It may 
fairly be a question how long a cluster of such trees 
will remain productive, but I believe that with good 
care, they will do well for a long time. We have a 
similar cluster of Early and Late Richmond and 
Black Tartarian cherries, planted also in 1890, and 
these have become large, vigorous trees, and have 
given us three large consecutive crops, f. h. king. 
Wisconsin. 
1NHAT THEY SAY. 
Movable Berry Shanty. —I send you a sketch of 
my movable berry shanty (Fig. 126), which is much 
liked by those who have seen it. My berry patch is 
80 rods long and 40 rods wide, with a road running 
lengthwise through the center, nine feet wide, hence 
my object in making a movable shanty. My first step 
was to go in the woods and cut two straight poles 12 
feet long and six inches through, and a number of 
small poles two inches in diameter. Then I went at 
it as though I was about to make a large wood-rack, 
using a 13^-inch auger. I first bored the holes for the 
cross pieces and fitted them in, using the two-inch 
poles. I then bored the holes for the stakes (using 
the same auger), putting one on a side, seven feet 
high on one side and five feet on the other, in order 
to give it sufficient pitch. For stays to nail around 
the top of the stakes, I used 1x4 pine, which I pro¬ 
cured by ripping an old fence board in two, putting 
a sufficient number on top to support the canvas. For 
&1.50,il bought enough old sailcloth to cover the entire 
shanty. The bottom of the sills on each end should 
be beveled, so as to prevent dirt from clogging in 
PRUNING FROM THE WAGON. Fig. 127. 
front while it is being drawn. If properly made, the 
entire weight should not exceed 250 pounds. One horse 
easily draws mine back and forth through my patch. 
I hitch to either end, using a log chain attached to 
the corners. If the cheap canvas is not easily procur¬ 
able, half-inch siding could be used for the roof, and 
old blankets for sides. The entire cost is small, and 
it is much more convenient than one made of old 
boards, and stationary. Much time is saved in carry¬ 
ing berries. I often move mine twice a day, keeping 
it directly opposite the pickers. w. f. b. 
Detroit, Mich. 
Grain Hay in Oregon.— For the benefit of E. A., 
Adams, Mass., page 224, I will give my way of grow¬ 
ing and cutting grain hay. I prefer a mixture of 
grain to a single grain. My mixture consists of 
wheat, oats, barley, bald barley and rye, equal parts. 
I sow plenty of seed so that the straw will be fine, 
and for horse feed, I think it is better to have grain 
in the hay than to cut it in the blossom ; but for cows, 
I wouid cut it earlier. The reason I use mixed grain 
in preference to a single grain is that I think it yields 
much more, and stock have a variety of feed. Wheat 
and oats make nice hay—two parts wheat and one of 
oats by weight—or bald barley and oats ; in fact, any 
kind of grain makes good hay, and it is hay that 
horses will do hard work on without any more grain. 
I am feeding headed wheat that was frosted, and my 
horses are fat and work almost every day. There are 
any number of teams in this valley that never eat 
anything but rye hay, and they do well on it. We 
prefer rye cut when the grain is in the dough. One 
of the secrets of making good grain hay is not to let 
it bleach in the field after it is mown ; let it cure in 
the cock. I have thought since I came West that, if 
the farmers east of the Rockies would plow up some 
of their old, played-out meadows, and sow a mixture 
of grain for hay, they would get more and better hay 
by doing so. r. a. shinn. 
Oregon. 
Plum Nonsense. 
A writer in the Germantown Telegraph writes very 
learnedly about plums, but displays most profound 
ignorance on many points. In one paragraph, he 
praises the Niagara as one of the three most profit¬ 
able market plums, and in the next, cautions planters 
not to set the Bradshaw, as it is a very shy bearer 
and unreliable. Every one who is posted in plums 
knows that Niagara and Bradshaw are one and the 
same plum. I have both bearing, and no one can tell 
the least difference m wood, leaf or fruit or any other 
point. In fact, the Niagara was renamed, and sent 
out from here. A man from here was in Canada and 
saw the plum, and liked it so well that he got a small 
tree and brought home with him, and it was grafted 
largely into the gardens in this place, and for many 
years went by the name of the man who brought it 
here, “ Mooney.” It succeeded finely, and was named 
Niagara, but on being compared with that variety, 
was found to be Bradshaw, and nothing else. 
The above writer also mentions the trees of Hudson 
River Purple Egg “rotting” badly, which will be 
news to those who have grown that variety. The 
trees black-knot quite badly, but I have never seen 
any rot, either on trees or fruit. Again he says, 
“ The black-knot is the great trouble with growers 
of plums, and trees susceptible to that disease should 
not be selected,” and then commends the Lombard 
as the most desirable market plum going. “Itstands 
at the high-water mark.” Of all the varieties we 
have ever grown, the Lombard is the most subject to 
black-knot. Although we hunt our trees carefully 
and cut off all black-knots every month, our Lom¬ 
bards are many of them dead, killed by cutting off so 
much of the top with this disease. I can’t see why 
any one should recommend Lombard for planting. 
Of course it is a good grower and most prolific bearer, 
and bears young; but the quality is poor, and it 
always sells for a low price. And then, when we 
consider its liability to black-knot, and for the fruit 
to rot combined with the low price at which it sells, 
planters would better go slow in planting it. I have 
known Lombards to go begging at 1 and 1^ to 2 
cents per pound in the Buffalo market, when Fellen- 
bergs were sought and sold quickly at six and seven 
cents. I think, in plum planting as in all other fruits, 
we should pay more attention to the quality of the 
fruit. Better raise a less number of pounds and have 
them sell for more money. It is not the quantity of 
fine-quality fruit that breaks the market, but the 
flood of that just good enough so that nobody 
wants it. _j. s. woodward. 
PRUNING FROM THE WAGON. 
Where orchard trees are pruned each year as they 
should be, it necessitates a large amount of work, and 
any device that will lessen this work is a great help 
to the fruit grower. Mr. C. K. Scoon, of Geneva, N. 
Y., has devised a very convenient arrangement which 
he uses in pruning peach and cherry trees. As shown 
in Fig. 127, it consists of a box about three feet wide, 
three feet high, and 10 feet long, placed in the wagon 
bed of a one-horse wagon. On the top of the box, 
are two light planks which extend diagonally across 
the box in the shape of a V, the point of which is on 
the side of the wagon away from the tree, so that 
the arms of the V extend partially around the tree. 
At the point of the V, each plank is secured by a rope 
which passes down the side of the box and is tied to 
the reach of the wagon. The outer end of each plank 
is free, and projects, perhaps, three feet beyond the 
edge of the box. With this arrangement, the plank 
may be moved to any angle to suit the size of the tree 
to be pruned, and since one end of the plank is 
fastened with the rope, a man may stand on the ex¬ 
treme outer end and thus reach half way around an 
ordinary plum or cherry tree without moving the 
wagon. When driving from tree to tree, the front 
plank is swung over the front end of the box in order 
tp mjss the limbs ; the rear plank takes care of itself. 
