1897 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
3o7 
the market. I consider it neither profitable nor safe. 
The greatest mortality, probably, is due to influenza, 
to which nearly all western horses are subject. I 
know of some western hors:s that have given excel¬ 
lent satisfaction, but the per cent is small. 
Chautauqua County, N. Y. l. d. gai,e. 
Get the “ Corn Fat” Off. 
Many western horses are sold in this county each 
year. They are mostly grade Clydesdale and Per- 
cheron weighing from 1,000 to 1,200 pounds. Many of 
them soon look hard and are spiritless. They do not 
know what oats are, and have to be taught to eat 
them, which they soon learn to do. I do not think 
that they have to become acclimated at all, but would 
call it becoming used to work. When they come here, 
they are young, but little more than broken, and fat¬ 
tened with corn to make them look sleek. They are 
lacking in muscle, but look able to do any work, by 
reason of their size and flesh. They are usually put 
into heavy work the first thing, and are more liable 
to become strained than an eastern-bred horse that 
has been used more or less for light work. I think 
they are equal to an eastern-bred horse, after they 
have lived here long enough to lose the “ corn flesh ” 
and get “ oat muscle,” but with the treatment 
usually given, it’s hard on them, and a good many 
of them are spoiled. I would advise one who has 
immediate use, at hard work, for a team, to buy 
something else than green western horses that have, 
probably, never done a day’s work. I would treat 
such a team as I would a big, overgrown, fat, four- 
year-old colt, in the fall, fresh from pasture. Give 
them slow, steady, light work, muscle-making food 
and good care, using them for “extra” until they 
are really able to do heavy work ; then the most of 
them are good enough for any one. I have seen some 
eastern horses of similar breeding that were soft, 
too, but think that they are, as a whole, better 
than the western ones until the latter have been 
here, at least two years, and have stood the test. 
For ordinary farm work, a -grade, with a good 
per cent of standard-bred trotting blood, weigh¬ 
ing 1,050 pounds, is my ideal. Such horses are 
fast walkers, intelligent—which cannot be said 
of the logy draft horse—full of grit and stay¬ 
ing power, which carries them to the end of 
the day without lagging. They will do more 
plowing, harrowing or cultivating, and keep 
on less feed, while on the road they are excel¬ 
lent. But the western horse can be raised for 
one-quarter the cost, and, as we cannot com¬ 
pete, we shall have to buy, learn how to use, 
and drive slower. c. k. chapman. 
New York. 
EVERGREEN WIND-BREAKS FOR OHIO. 
I have had some experience in planting wind¬ 
breaks, and numerous opportunities to observe 
their effects. The first one that I helped to 
plant was on the west side of a field that was 
afterward used for small fruits. These trees 
were Scotch and Austrian pines, and were 
selected because there was a surplus of these 
kinds in the nursery belonging to the owner of 
the land. The trees were three to four feet high 
when planted, and about 20 feet high in 10 years 
from that time. They were planted about one rod 
apart, or one in each fence corner, and made a fairly 
good wind-break in 10 years. One of the trees died 
and was not replaced, by which means we were able 
to judge as to the value of those remaining. A high 
wind early one summer made a swath through a 
raspberry plantation, just opposite the gap, and it 
became evident that the wind-break was a profitable 
investment. A few years later, I planted another 
wind-break, using Norway pines, as they were in 
surplus at the time. It would have been better, in 
both cases, had there been a double row of trees, and 
better still had all of the trees been of Austrian pine, 
as it is more bushy than either of the others, although 
the Norway pine does nearly as well. The Scotch 
pine seems to grow thinner as the trees increase in 
age, and is not desirable. I have had the opportunity 
of observing the working of a Norway spruce wind¬ 
break planted in double rows eight feet apart, the 
trees alternating in the rows. This makes an effec¬ 
tive wind-break, but the best tree of all is the White 
pine. I feel safe in asserting that it will make the 
best wind-break in the shortest time, of any tree 
found in the nurseries. White pine trees, planted 10 
feet apart on good soil, will touch branches when 15 
feet high, which will be in about six years from the 
time of planting, as they stretch upward at the rate 
of two to three feet a year, and increase in width at 
about the same rate. This makes a very serviceable 
wind-break, but many more years are required before 
it reaches its best estate. A double row, with the 
trees alternating, placing them 8 to 10 feet apart, 
will make a serviceable wind-break in less time than 
a single row, but I am not sure that it is the better 
plan under all circumstances. Where one does not 
care to devote much space to a wind-break, and at 
the same time save something in the cost of trees, he 
can get very satisfactory results by planting the trees 
10 feet apart in a single row. Trees so planted 
retain their bottom branches longer than when 
crowded more closely. In the end, the result is 
about the same, whether a single or double row is 
planted. 
To get the best results, the trees should be planted 
and cared for as they would be in the nursery. The 
ground should be plowed and fitted as for fruit trees. 
Manuring need not be practiced except on very poor 
land, and then in the form of a top-dressing. If the 
trees must be planted in sod, then a mulch on the 
surface, after planting, is advisable ; but if the ground 
can be plowed and kept cultivated, a mulch is not 
needed. Cultivation can be continued several sea¬ 
sons with profit, but it is hardly safe to allow the 
grass to grow around the trees when small, for aside 
from the check in growth to the trees, by the grass, 
there is considerable danger of fire, which means 
death to the trees. The danger is lessened when the 
trees become large enough to keep the grass down, 
and can be almost wholly obviated by raking away 
the dead needles each season. 
The selection and handling of the trees are both im¬ 
portant matters, and both are beset with some diffi¬ 
culties. If one can find a local nurseryman who has 
a stock of twice-transplanted trees, 18 to 30 inches 
high, which can be bought for 20 to 25 cents per tree, he 
need look no farther. Larger trees can be moved with 
safety, but if the trees have been transplanted often 
enough to make good roots, they will come up with 
a ball of earth attached, and will be very heavy and 
bulky, if more than three feet high, besides being no 
better than trees of half the size. Pine trees will 
have less roots than Norway spruce, but if grown on 
clay soil and frequently transplanted, more or less 
soil will come up with them, and it ought to be re¬ 
tained. It is difficult to get evergreens to grow that 
have not often been transplanted, unless small trees 
are taken. In any case, the roots must not be allowed 
to dry in sun or wind for one minute even. Keep 
the roots covered with moss, straw, soil or something 
to prevent drying, all of the time that they are out of 
the ground. 
If trees must be ordered from a distance, then 12 
to 18-inch trees are large enough. Such trees ought 
to be bought for 10 cents per tree, or less, but nur¬ 
serymen often make quite a difference in price be¬ 
tween trees once and twice transplanted, of the same 
size. An evergreen, 18 or more inches high, that has 
been transplanted but once, has very poor roots, and 
is dear at any price. I would not select trees less 
than 12 inches high, for they grow very slowly when 
young, a tree three feet high being six or eight years 
old, but after they reach three feet, the growth is 
rapid. I have transplanted evergreens successfully 
at all times during the spring, summer and fall, but 
prefer the time when they are just beginning to grow, 
and next to that, a favorable time in September. 
With trees that are well rooted, I have never done 
any pruning at the time of transplanting, and do not 
see how it can be done to advantage on pines and 
spruces ; but Arbor-vitae and junipers may easily be 
pruned, if it seem necessary. Pines and spruces are 
best pruned, for the purpose of thickening the 
branches, soon after the new growth starts. Wind¬ 
breaks seldom require pruning, but if it be desired 
to make them as dense as possible, simply nip off the 
tips of the young shoots while they are so tender that 
it can be done with the thumb and finger. 
Ohio Experiment Station. w. j. green. 
OUR AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES; A WORD 
OF SUGGESTIVE CRITICISM. 
I have a word or two of criticism on the work done 
at our agricultural experiment stations, or rather, 
on the summing up of that work as presented in the 
monthly reports which are sent out by the Agricul¬ 
tural Department at Washington. I have appeared 
before too many legislative committees in their 
behalf to be other than a hearty friend of our agri¬ 
cultural colleges, and as the crowning of my indorse¬ 
ment of them, sent my two boys to be educated 
within their walls. My criticism in this article is on 
the narrow basis on which some of their experimental 
work is done, and the unprofitable results that are 
laid before the public by the organ at Washington, 
because of a too limited generalization from the 
results obtained. I have especially in mind the test 
made with strawberries, where varieties into the 
hundreds were grown side by side, and the varying 
characteristics most carefully noted, and a comparison 
of the merits of the different kinds presented in 
their bulletin to the public to enable those who 
perused them to decide which to purchase of nursery¬ 
men, for planting either for home use or for market¬ 
ing. As a seedsman dealing, also, in small fruits, I 
was, of course, much interested in these reports, and 
read them with care to ascertain what were the best 
of all the numerous varieties before the public, with 
the view of cataloguing them. Among the various 
bulletin reports, I read those issued from the New 
York and Massachusetts Stations, which, three or 
four years ago, gave the public the results of their 
experiments with a great many varieties. The large 
plot at the Massachusetts Station I visited 
personally when the fruit was in its perfect 
maturity, and there had the pleasure, through 
the courtesy of the ever-courteous Prof. May¬ 
nard, of sampling them ad libitum. I re¬ 
turned with a very clear idea of their compara¬ 
tive merits, and felt fully competent to 
instruct the public accordingly in my seed 
catalogue. 
Receiving at about that time the small fruit 
bulletin issued by the Cornell Experiment 
Station, I examined it to see how nearly the 
two colleges were in agreement on the same 
subject, being prepared to find more or less 
difference in the degree of approbation be¬ 
stowed on the same varieties when tested by 
each. To my chagrin, I found them, at times, 
utterly at variance as to the merits of the 
same strawberry ; it was a fundamental differ 
ence, one of kind and not of degree. Now as 
I knew from personal experience at the agri¬ 
cultural college at Amherst that the merits 
of the various sorts had been honestly and 
fairly stated, I was, at first, greatly puzzled 
to understand why the results at Cornell 
were so contradictory. On reading the entire 
report, I found the solution of the problem : 
While the strawberries at Amherst had been 
raised on a loamy soil, those at Cornell had been 
grown on one of so clayey a nature that it re¬ 
quired underdrainage to give them any chance of 
success. What the two reports did actually teach, 
was how certain strawberries deported themselves at 
Amherst on a good loam, and, again, how the same 
varieties deported themselves at Cornell on a soil 
underdrained naturally, yet having a good portion 
of clay in its composition. Now 1 maintain that the 
results of each of these reports, though made, of 
course, in all honesty at each station, could not but 
be misleading to the great public at large, who 
looked to them for information, for but few would be 
likely to read both reports, and so have one limit 
the statements contained in the other, but in most 
instances, would assume that they were learning abso¬ 
lute facts as regards the merits or demerits of the 
various kinds, and not how they deported themselves 
on a clayey soil at Cornell and a loamy soil at Am¬ 
herst. As strawberries are usually raised on soil of 
a loamy nature, the report of results obtained at Am¬ 
herst would have proved a safer guide for the great 
majority of planters. 
A mere statement of the facts makes evident what is 
needed by the public to obtain the most profit from 
these costly experiments conducted so carefully on 
so large a scale. They need to have presented to 
them tables arranged side by side, showing how the 
same varieties deported themselves in hardiness, 
quality, yield, etc. under different conditions of 
growth, such as a sandy, a clayey or a gravelly and a 
loamy soil, and where should they look for the gen¬ 
eralization more fittingly than in the monthly bul¬ 
letins sent out from the Department of Agriculture at 
