April 13 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
266 
THE LAND OF THE ROME BEAUTY APPLE. 
Where This Famous Fariely Thrives. 
HIGHLAND ORCHARDS.—A man must like his 
business if he attains much success. I was raised on 
one of the high hills of southern Ohio and there were 
50 or 75 acres in apple orchard on my father’s farm 
at my earliest recollection. Nearly all the trees were 
the new apple then, Rome Beauty, which originated 
in this county, and I think it holds its place to-day as 
strongly as it did 30 years ago. Our highest land is 
suited to the Rome Beauty. It attains good size, 
takes on a beautiful finish in coloring, which makes it 
sell well; it keeps well when properly sprayed and 
grown, and is fair in quality. If I were in a different 
locality I might be in favor of the Baldwin, Ben 
Davis, York Imperial and other varieties, but here 
they will not compare with Rome Beauty in the same 
orchard from a commercial standpoint. Grimes, in 
a small way in our local markets, will pay as well as 
Rome Beauty, but Ben Davis has not given half the 
profits one year with another, as it has had the bitter 
rot badly where not sprayed, and much worse than 
Rome Beauty; is frequently rough, and will not keep 
as well when grown in the same orchard and given 
the same treatment. The best varieties to grow are 
the ones suited to the soil and the demands of the 
market, a red apple being preferred. 
SETTING THE TREES.—Good trees, healthy and 
thrifty, should be transplanted when two years old, 
and the tops cut back severely. We have set our or¬ 
chards 20 feet apart for 20 years, and unless the 
ground is very rich, or the variety a strong grower, 
that distance is great enough for the best results. Our 
land is naturally thin, and underlaid with slate or 
sandstone, and in some places the stratum of rock is 
on top; so trees do not live long for us here. Drought, 
root rot, starvation, borers and the Woolly aphis soon 
cause the trees to be thin enough on the ground. Our 
trees usually begin to bear when four to six years old, 
if given good culture. 
HUMUS AND FERTILITY.—We grow cow peas in 
our orchards to furnish humus and trap nitrogen, but 
we think it best for us to leave the vines on the 
ground till Spring and use a Cutaway harrow to in¬ 
corporate them with the soil. When the growth needs 
turning under in the Fall the limbs of the trees are 
usually bent down with their load of fruit, and the 
trees being so close together it is not possible to do 
a nice job plowing it under. We must have Orchard 
grass or something, and I don’t know anything bet¬ 
ter, to prevent the soil on our steep hillsides from 
washing away. The orchard should be cultivated 
when young, and continued as long as the circum¬ 
stances will allow, but something must be grown for 
humus, as that helps to hold the water supply needed 
by the trees in ripening their fruit. Either an earth 
mulch or a shade from plant growth, such as cow 
peas, or a mulch formed by mowing Orcnard grass 
and clover, and leaving it on the ground, conserves 
moisture, and will be a great help to the trees, not 
only in ripening the crop at that time, but in future. 
SPRAYING.—The trees should be pruned so as to 
form a low head; then the pruning in later years, the 
spraying, the thinning and the picking can be done to 
better advantage. We commenced spraying 10 years 
ago under the direction of Prof. W. J. Green, of the 
Ohio Experiment Station, and have been using the 
dilute Bordeaux Mixture to prevent fungous growth, 
with an insecticide added to help destroy the Codling 
moth, curculio, canker worm, bud moth and cater¬ 
pillars. Last year we used arsenite of soda for the 
first time, and I am confident it is better for us than 
Paris-green. I know that every dollar invested in 
spraying in our orchard for the past two years in¬ 
creased our proceeds at least ?10. One year with an¬ 
other, $100 worth v.f apples can be sprayed for $5, and 
if they had not been sprayed they might not be worth 
more than $50, and will rarely bring over $75. We 
spray four times, and last year completely prevented 
the bitter rot, while neighbors lost nearly all where 
not sprayed. The fruit so treated keeps much better 
after it is picked, the foliage of such trees will be 
healthy, and the fruit can keep growing-till «the wea¬ 
ther conditions call a halt, and it will hang on till 
late in the season, be better in color and quality, and 
will sell for more money. 
THINNING.—I have heard it said that fruit 
strengthens the nerves, but I have not seen but very 
few persons engaged in fruit culture who had the 
“nerve” to thin the fruit as it should be for best re¬ 
sults. When trees set heavy crops of fruit it will pay 
to remove at least three-fourths of the small apples 
early in June or July. If three times as many as look 
necessary are pulled off at that time, provided they 
have been well sprayed, the trees may be too full at 
maturity, the fruit will be worth more on account of 
size and perfection, and the trees will be in better 
condition to bear the following year. A man working 
in a lumber yard may be able to carry loads of 75 
pounds day after day, but if he tries to carry 175 
pounds at the same rate of speed he will soon have 
to rest a few days to be able to work at all. If a tree 
produces such a heavy load of fruit that it takes all its 
energy to mature the fruit, there will be no fruit buds 
formed for the following year, and it will have to 
rest a year or two, if it doesn’t get an eternal rest, 
before it can bear another crop. I believe if trees 
are given good culture they will not set so many fruit 
buds and overbear so much; the large amount of thin¬ 
ning will not be necessary, and the trees will be more 
likely to produce crops or partial crops every year. 
PICKING AND PACKING.—In picking our apples 
we go over the trees as soon as possible, leaving the 
small and green ones, and gather what is fairly well 
colored and ripe enough by putting the thumb or 
finger against the stem and pulling so as to break the 
connection between the stem and twig on which it 
grew; otherwise the stem will often pull out of the 
apple and cause it to rot prematurely. In two or 
three weeks we go over the trees again and find nearly 
as good fruit as was picked at first. VVe believe In 
packing the fruit in the orchard as soon as it is picked 
from the trees, and taking it to where it is to be 
stored or put on the market at once. If it is left in 
the field awhile it will soon begin to ripen and decay, 
but if put into cold storage at once the ripening pro¬ 
cess is postponed and the perfect fruit will remain 
sound for months. We always grade our fruit, and 
mark the package so we know what it contains, and 
put the grower’s name on it as a trade mark. We 
sell our fruit for what it is worth or a little more; 
and back the quality with the pocketbook if necessary. 
The best grade always sells best, and if second-grade 
fruit is put in the package with first-grade fruit all 
will sell as second grade. Last year we packed our 
apples in boxes for the first time, the size being 22x 
11x10% inches. Apples 2% inches and over were put 
into one box, and the smaller ones put into another. 
These boxes are too small to suit many dealers, and 
it would be best, it seems to me, to have boxes hold¬ 
ing a full bushel, or possibly a half barrel. It will be 
cheaper to use larger boxes, and probably it will prove 
to be best to pack only the large specimens with good 
color that way, and put the smaller and green ones 
into barrels. We made as much if not more, clear 
money by boxing, than we could have made by bar¬ 
reling. Wholesale men want to make as large a profit 
on a box as if it were a barrel, and grocers and con¬ 
sumers will not pay it, so the barrel is preferred by 
them. Another crop we hope to have larger boxes 
and some barrels also; then people can take their 
choice of packages. Transportation companies charge 
more freight on apples in boxes than in barrels, ex¬ 
cept in car lots. Between two points one road charges 
47 cents per 100 in boxes and 16 cents in barrels, less 
than car lots. Other roads charge about twice as 
much. If the box is to become the common package, 
they will have to be shipped in car lots or sold in the 
local marKets, unless the freight rate is changed. 
Lawrence Co., Ohio. u. t. cox. 
THOSE CROWDED APPLE TREES. 
Mr. Lee, of Carroll Co., Ohio, asks whether I know 
of an orchard 25 or 30 years old on which my plan 
has been carried out. I have never seen my plan for 
greatest profit from orcharding carried out any fur¬ 
ther than he has done. I have seen 206 barrels of 
apples picked from 90 trees, 30 each of Baldwin, R. 
I. Greening and Roxbury Russets, the eighth year 
from setting, and 60 barrels the sixth year from set¬ 
ting. The trees were set 18 feet apart each way, oc¬ 
cupying two-thirds of an acre. Had one acre been 
planted with same varieties, using 135 trees, the yield 
would have been 309 barrels, while if planted 35 feet 
each way the yields would have been only 80 barrels. 
There is no reason to believe the yield would have 
been any larger the eighth year if the trees had been 
set farther apart, for there was ample room for each 
tree. When trees begin at three years to bear and bear 
every year, as they should do, and as Mr. Lee says his 
orchard did, until it became too thick, it can be 
easily figured that the orchard set with 135 trees (18 
feet apart) would produce more profit up to 15 years 
of age than one set 35 feet apart would produce In 25 
or 30 years. If when the trees begin to crowd the 
orchardist has not the courage or business sagacity 
to trim off the tops from every other tree, or cut down 
and take out every other tree, he must, of course, 
suffer the consequences. It is no fault of the close 
planting. Mr. Lee says he “likes the theory, but 
would like to know how it works in practice. My 
own experience and my neighbor’s failed through no 
fault of ours.” There was no failure up to the time 
the trees began to crowd each other, but rather there 
was great gain in profit, as Mr. Lee must know. The 
failure was in not taking out the trees at the proper 
time. Had this been done, the orchard would now 
be as though planted 35 feet apart at first. The fault 
cannot justly be placed with the trees, or to the close 
planting system. It is simply the fault of the or¬ 
chardist. The day has gone, by in New England for 
cropping the land occupied as an orchard, after the 
trees come into bearing. Spraying, fertilizing and cul¬ 
tivating, which are so necessary for successful or¬ 
charding here, cannot be profitably done, with only 
35 trees to the acre without some other crop being 
raised on the same land. There is but little or no 
profit in growing any other crop we can grow in com¬ 
petition with our western farmers. Therefore push 
the orchard for all there is in it, and get all we can 
and as quickly as we can from it. This can be done 
more surely and effectively by close planting. 
Connecticut. edwin hoyt. 
Fruit Notes By An Old-Timer. 
Give Mr. Hoyt my compliments, and tell him that 
sunlight is better than Bordeaux to raise fine fruit. 
Let me suggest to any nurseryman who tells the fruit 
grower the importance of thinning fruit, that we ap¬ 
preciate the importance of the advice, and as a re¬ 
turn favor, that the nurseryman set a good example 
and thin his long list of varieties, and not claim the 
privilege of substituting varieties which without that 
help could never be sold. How long could a fruit 
grower do business who advertised fruit to be shipped 
from his storehouse, and claimed the privilege of sub¬ 
stituting any old kind for the variety ordered? A 
pound of practice is worth a ton of theory in raising 
Baldwin apples 18 feet apart. Good culture and high 
feeding delay the bearing age of apples. Different 
varieties of apples require different treatment for best 
results. Make the variety fit the location. The best 
quality fruit is grown on trees well laden with fruit. 
An overfed tree is no better than an overfed horse 
for profitable results. Poor apples—poor prices; no 
good name improves them. h. o. mead. 
THE USE OF FERTILIZERS. 
An article on page 207 of The R. N.-Y., March 23, 
on “Who Shall Mix Fertilizers,” is weakened by the 
conclusion, which reads as follows: “The soil may 
have four aches—requiring nitrogen, potash, phos¬ 
phoric acid 01 *' lime to cure them. Unless you Mow 
which particular ache your farm has, you would bet¬ 
ter use all four.” This strikes me as remarkable ad¬ 
vice, and likely to mislead. The soil may have the 
four aches, but ordinarily these aches are all the re¬ 
sult of improper handling, lack of tillage, or deficiency 
of humus. Many soils abundantly rich in all four of 
the materials mentioned fail to give results because 
of poor tillage or lack of humus. To attempt to make 
commercial fertilizers amend for the wrong conditions 
is what causes many farmers to lose confidence In 
commercial fertilizers. When a soil is found to be 
producing unsatisfactory crops the first thing which 
should receive attention is the humus supply. If no 
cover or green manuring crops have been plowed un¬ 
der in recent years, or if no barn manure has been 
used, it is very probable that the ache is caused by 
lack of organic matter in the soil. To remedy this 
ache apply stable manure, grow cover crops upon 
every possible occasion, and in this way bring up the 
percentage of organic matter in the soil. If the cause 
of the ache is not deficiency of humus then poor till¬ 
age may be the cause. As a matter of actual experi¬ 
ence we have found that these two things mentioned 
are very often the source of trouble. In the article 
above referred to we are told “unless you know what 
particular ache your farm has you would better use 
all four” (nitrogen, phosphoric acid, potash, lime). 
Our advice would be, unless you know what particu¬ 
lar ache your farm has, find out. If it is found that 
nitrogen is needed use nitrogen; if potash is needed 
use potash; in other words, find out what is needed 
and then apply the remedy. If a man is sick it would 
be poor advice to recommend that he go and buy a 
patent medicine guaranteed to cure everything from 
chilblains to liver trouble and consumption. Better 
locate the cause of the ache and apply a specific rem¬ 
edy. This principle applies to soils as well as to 
men. The Cornell University Experiment Station, 
Ithaca, N. Y., is sending to farmers circulars telling 
how the soil may be tested and how the farmer may 
definitely learn what the soil needs, i,. a. clintox. 
Weeding the Wheat.— If I had a piece of Winter 
grain on which the Fall sowing of grass seed had caught 
well, and withstood the Winter favorably, I should 
hesitate long before going on It in Spring with weeder, 
preferring to watch my chance and sow clover seed in 
the usual manner; that is, when surface soil was honey¬ 
combed with frost. I have known good results obtained 
by running the Thomas smoothing harrow over the sur¬ 
face of a clayey wheatfield after it had dried sufficiently 
In Spring, before and after sowing clover seed, but there 
had been no grass seed sown in Fall, and have heard 
men make great claims in favor of the practice as to 
the increased yield of wheat resulting therefrom, but I 
have not been able to put my hand on any well-authenti¬ 
cated case where the scales, and measuring line were 
employed to test the results of such treatment on a field 
of uniform fertility. I hope this may bring out some 
facts, as well as figures. m. garrahan. 
