82 
rHE KUKAL NEW-YORKER; 
February 9 
STATISTICS Of AN APPLE ORCHARD. 
In estimating probable yields from an orchard of 
apple trees there are many elements of uncertainty. 
Adaptability of variety to location, cultivation, in¬ 
cluding pruning and fertilization as well as care in 
securing and disposing of crop to best advantage, are 
ever causes of variable results. Besides, the last few 
years have been marked by far greater care in each 
of the above named particulars in the treatment of 
orchards everywhere; therefore better results may be 
expected than have been attained heretofore. We have 
trees now fruiting that were top-worked about 55 
years ago. They stand along a fence bordering a field 
that was used for a succession of farm crops, includ¬ 
ing hay and pasturage. The last 15 years a vineyard 
has occupied the land. This has been regularly and 
carefully cultivated. On the other side of the fence 
the conditions are almost identical. These trees of 
Westfield Seek-no-further (now known in market as 
Seeks) have been regular croppers, and the quality of 
the fruit of uniform fair quality; yielding on the av¬ 
erage from three to four barrels of marketable fruit 
a year. An orchard of mixed varieties, set about 45 
years ago, 33 feet apart, was cultivated till it had been 
in bearing seven or eight years; then used as a hog 
pasture. It shows a great difference, owing to dif¬ 
ference of varieties. Gravenstein, Greenings and Bald¬ 
wins have made large growth, and have cropped well, 
usually every other year. Early Harvest, King and 
Dominie trees have not made such vigorous growth. 
King has generally matured only a light crop. The 
fruit of Early Harvest has been very imperfect, while 
Dominie is inclined to overcrop; fruit generally of 
fair quality. Some trees have been removed, and 
other varieties set in. The Gravenstein, Greening, 
Baldwin and Dominie trees have probably averaged 
three barrels each every bearing year. 
An orchard of 150 trees, set 40 feet apart in 1891, of 
Fall and early Winter varieties, has been carefully 
pruned and ground well cultivated since it was set. 
In 1898 most of the trees bore some fruit. Last sea¬ 
son there was probably an average yield of half a 
barrel on each tree, but the gale of September 
stripped the trees of some varieties. Wealthy and 
Boskoop held on fairly well, while Pound Sweet. 
Twenty Ounce and Gravenstein were nearly all blown 
off. Some crab apple trees set in 1894 had fine crops 
last year. They appear to come in bearing sooner 
than most varieties cf apples. From my experience I 
judge that most kinds of apple trees, if well cared for, 
will begin to yield paying crops in from seven to 10 
years, and that an orchard 20 years old well cared for 
should yield from seven to eight barrels a tree on 
bearing years. We have not yet been able to be sure 
of a crop every year. There is no doubt that orchard¬ 
ing has become so popular that in a few years it will 
be difficult to dispose of a full crop at remunerative 
prices. Then fewer varieties that are perfectly 
adapted to the location will be most profitable to the 
grower. w. d. barns. 
Orange Co., N. Y. 
LATE TO MATURE.—I cannot expect very much 
from a young apple tree until about 15 years old, and 
at 16 years of age I have had 80 Greening trees aver¬ 
age three barrels lo a tree, and one or two had seven 
barrels each at that age. All of my bearing trees are 
set 33 feet each way, making 40 trees per acre. I have 
10 acres of trees 30 years old that average three bar¬ 
rels to a tree each year, 100 of them Greenings and 
300 Baldwins; but these trees are too close, and I 
have set my young orchard 40 feet one way and 37% 
feet the other, with the trees in the second row, half 
way between the trees in the first row, so the trees 
are really 40 feet from each other in any direction. 
The Greenings bear a little earlier than the Baldwin. 
Ontario Co., N. Y. t. b. wiI/SOn. 
HOW VARIETIES DIFFER.—The type of an or¬ 
chard is so modified by environment, that only ap¬ 
proximate answers can be given. With good care and 
tillage Ben Davis trees should bear a moderate crop 
at six or seven years, Baldwin at eight. Spy at nine 
or 10. Within 20 years from planting Baldwin, and 
perhaps Spy, should give an aggregate yield exceeding 
Ben Davis, and averaging at 20 years a crop of five 
to 10 barrels per tree every alternate year. In general 
practice this yield is the maximum to be looked for, 
one orchard with another, where trees average 40 to 
50 per acre. After 20 years the size and quantity of 
the fruit may be kept up only by careful fertilization, 
tillage and pruning on our average light soils. The 
above answers apply to standard varieties, selected 
exposure and soil, and expert care. No other condi¬ 
tions are likely to pay expenses commercially in the 
near future. The market more and more is calling 
for the best grown selections of old, standard varie¬ 
ties, and the superseded and newer unknown kinds 
are generally grown at a loss. With ordinary farm¬ 
ers’ care the Spy comes into bearing at 15 to 20 years, 
and is seldom profitaole. The Baldwin endures more 
abuse, yielding at 10 to 12 years, and Ben Davis rather 
earlier, though in our latitude the latter is unprofit¬ 
able except with high culture. wm. h. hart. 
Dutchess Co., N. Y. 
CHESTNUT FARMING IN PENNSYLVANIA. 
For the past few months an item about as follows 
has been going the rounds of the daily papers: 
E. W. Warner, of Williamsport, Pa., is the owner of 
probably the oddest farm in Pennsylvania, says the Chi¬ 
cago Inter-Ocean. It is a chestnut farm, located in the 
mountain district of northeastern Lycoming County, near 
the Sullivan County line. The original saplings or sprouts 
were culled from a wide area of chestnut thicket, trimmed 
into shape, then grafted with the American sweet chest¬ 
nut, a native nut of Pennsylvania. The result has been 
marvelous. This year was the third bearing season for 
the trees, and some of the nuts were astonishingly large, 
.some of them measuring more than an inch across and 
growing as many as seven in a burr. The flavor of the 
nuts, it was feared, might be impaired by their size, but 
the kernels are as flne and sweet as the choicest Pennsyl¬ 
vania chestnut picked up in the fields. In order to pre¬ 
serve the trees from bearing proliflcally, and thus en¬ 
dangering the growth of the tree, Mr. Warner went 
through his orchard when the burrs began to form and 
whipped off at least one-half of the fruit. 
Several years ago we visited the hillside at Mari¬ 
etta, Pa., where H. M. Engle had grafted many nat¬ 
ural sprouts to Paragon chestnut. They were then 
very promising, but within a year or two the weevils 
injured the nuts so as nearly to ruin the enterprise. 
We wrote Mr. Warner for the facts about his grove, 
and he replies that the report is quite correct. He 
has 2,000 trees, not of course in rows, but here and 
there as the stumps grew. Mr. Warner also says: 
As regards the Chestnut weevil I anticipate no ser¬ 
ious trouble from it, as the insects are confined to cer¬ 
tain geographical zones or belts. According to my 
experience and travels of more than 20 years as a 
TOMATO PLANTS ALL BEADY. Pig :W. 
geologist and mineral expert, throughout the moun¬ 
tains of the various States of the Union, I find that 
on certain slopes and at certain altitudes where the 
chestnut grows well and bears the finest nuts, the 
weevil is not known. Such weevil-proof belts exist 
in many places in the mountains of Pennsylvania, 
and to these commercial chestnut growers must go 
if they wish to succeed at the business. As regards 
native or extra large chestnuts. Nature has been 
planting and the forests growing them for hundreds 
of years. It remains for man to find these large and 
special nuts, and propagate them by grafting. A 
friend of mine some time ago told me of a wild seed¬ 
ling that he gathered nuts from, and which took but 
40 chestnuts to fill a quart measure, which is about 
the size of the largest Paragon chestnut. As far as 
my experience goes as chestnut grower, I am quite 
well satisfied with the venture, and believe chestnut 
farming can be made to pay handsome returns, pro¬ 
vided care and intelligence are used in grafting choice 
nuts in selected localities. 
THE ART OF USING A BUCK SAW. 
standing behind a bucksaw and keeping it in mo¬ 
tion is an art—sometimes an aching art, forsooth, as 
in the case of the laborer who said, “No, he didn’t 
have the toothache nor the stomachache, but he did 
have the saw ache mighty bad.’’ To do this, and yet 
work easily, requires an artful man. t'irst let us look 
at the saw. Keep the teeth points sharp. Do not set 
the saw until it actually gripes in the log. The nar¬ 
rower the cut, with the saw running freely, the deeper 
goes each stroke—but keep the teeth points sharp. 
Touching up the teeth with a file every day is not too 
often. It pays. You rest yourself and saw wood fast 
while filing. As to the actual work of sawing, chang¬ 
ing from one set of muscles to another is restful, i. e., 
throwing the work from the arm and chest muscles 
to the back and abdominal muscles. Remember it is 
your weight on the down stroke, steadily applied, that 
cuts. In a large log, start with the arm motion, and 
when the saw is well started, put on your weight and 
see the sawdust fiy. Never fret because tne fire stick 
does not drop. Keep the saw sinking into the wood 
and it will drop. How about big sticks that you can 
just drag to the buck? Why not split them with 
beetle and wedges in the woods? You can split as 
fast as with an axe, and each stick is handled at least 
four times before it is cut up. More sticks to handle? 
Yes, but try it. 
Always have a support for the small end of the 
stick—an old box will do—and be sure it is as high as 
the buck. If there is no support, the small end of the 
stick trails on the ground. During the first two or 
three cuts the weight is not balanced on the buck 
and you must hold the stick to its place with your 
knee and weight. In this cramped position, the mus¬ 
cular power is lessened, and some of the weight that 
should be used in cutting off the stick end is used up 
in this auxiliary work. In a good-sized stick put both 
feet on the ground—left foot under the buck-—and 
get motion by swinging the body back and forth with 
some pressure on the downward stroke. Don’t guess 
entirely at the stick lengths. Have a measure of the 
stove fire-box, and on big sticks use it. It may save a 
whole cut. When you begin to ache sawing, quit and 
split. RICHMOND CONKLIN, 
FAHU LIFE IN A COLD COUNTRi. 
We have had good sleighing^ here since November 
25. The snow came with some rain, so it is solid, like 
Spring snow. We draw hay down from barrack in 
upper field, on the crust, with a team. 1 think it 
pays to build hay barracks in distant fields, so we 
can hustle the hay in in a hurry, when we are haying, 
and then we draw it in on sleighs in Winter with lit¬ 
tle expense. I cut my wood in the Fall, and pile it 
in log lengths in the woods, and draw it on sleighs; 
have it cut into stove lengths with a two-horse power. 
I pay ?2.50 per day for power and team, and one man. 
and I furnish three men, two to get the wood to the 
saw and one to throw it back after it is cut. We all 
have to hustle, as we cut enough in two days to last 
me a year (about 50 cords). We use circular saw. 
and can cut a log 14 inches in diameter by turning it. 
Small wood two or three inches in diameter we cut 
four to eight poles at a time. We have seasoned wood, 
to carry us through 1901, and the wood we cut this. 
Winter we will burn next year. I usually have it 
split and piled in the shed before Spring work comes 
on. Two cords of seasoned wood (seasoned under 
cover) will go further and give better satisfaction 
than three cords of green wood. I think wood will 
lose 20 per cent in value if left out doors. First have 
good ventilation in shed, and then pile wood in as 
fast as it is split (if not wet by rain). Then you will 
have seasoned, dry wood that is of good weight, 
I have 150 hens, and they are on strike this Winter; 
very few eggs. I have not had much time to attend 
to them, and perhaps there are too many walking 
delegates among them. It is wonderful how the cat¬ 
tle and sheep mow away the hay this Winter. We 
had to feed about a month earlier than usual. Think- 
of it, sleighing since November 25, and no doubt it 
will continue well into April! I make calculations over- 
my hay daily. If the upper barrack will last until 
February 1 perhaps the big barrack by the road will 
carry me through March. Then will the one in Riv¬ 
erside meadow and the other one on the hill carry 
me through April until May 10? I fear not; 28 cattle. 
33 sheep and a pair of horses get away with a lot of 
fodder every day. The pigs in their warm cellar seem 
to be enjoying the Adirondack Winter. We put in a 
lot of buckwheat straw and let them burrow into it 
They are doing well on skim-milk, apples and a very 
little ground feed. We killed six this year; put hams 
and shoulders in pickle, found ready sale for sausage, 
loins and bacon, and nave packed the thickest pork 
in barrels, more than we can use, but I always find 
ready sale for it; never had an ounce of salted pork 
spoil. The last snow drifted somewhat. The wea¬ 
ther has turned colder again, but with three good fires 
in the house and plenty of dry wood we manage to 
keep comfortable. The foxes bark around us at night 
and keep “Pup Sir” racing up and down to drive them 
away. We draw up to the fire and read The R. N.-Y. 
and our New York daily, toast our shins, and perhaps 
snooze a little before it is time to go to count the 
cattle and sheep and feed the horses before we go 
to bed. s. c. A. 
Warren Co., N. Y^_ ' 
Beardi.ess Barley.—a new beardless kind called the 
Success has given good satisfaction at the Dominion Ex¬ 
perimental Farm, Ottawa, yielding as high as 5H4 bushels 
to the acre. As far as I can learn there would be no risk 
in sowing it as extensively as any of the bearded varieties. 
Canada. J. J. 
Corn for Horses.— Years ago corn and rye were grown 
—never oats except in rare cases. Hence, horses were 
fed on corn until long after the source of supply had 
shifted to South and West. Thirty years ago the horses 
on stage line from Provincetown to Orleans (25 miles or 
more), were fed a grain diet of corn exclusively. Of 
course, it may not be an ideal diet, but a horse of quality 
will show it on corn as surely as on any diet. A lunkhead 
can’t be made to show spirit by any diet whatever. 
Cape Cod, Mass. a. l. s. 
