1901 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
355 
FARMING IN THE MOUNTAINS. 
TiiK R. N.-Y. has a big family—scattered all over 
this great country. Those who live in the flat valleys 
know little of life on the high hills. One of our read¬ 
ers in Colorado sends us the picture shown at Fig. 143 
and says: 
I mail a photograph of our mountain ranch with a 
few of our bossies: our altitude is nearly 8,000 feet, so 
vou may imagine we breathe pure air. We miss the fruit 
we can’t raise, and it makes our mouth water to read 
of the good things the Hope Farm people eat. c. L. R. 
Golden, Col. 
It would take a good many bushels of pure air to 
make up for the lack of good apples and small fruit. 
Still, there are many mountain farm homes as happy 
as any to be found in the valley. 
AN ACRE OF TOMATOES. 
As the ground was full of Quack grass we plowed it 
early in the Spring, and then it was cultivated thor¬ 
oughly in order to get rid of the Quack grass before 
lime to set out the plants arrived. The ground was 
marked out four feet each way, and then the furrows 
were run out one way for the plants. Wnen the plants 
were being set out I noticed there were plenty of cut¬ 
worms, and when I went out to see how the plants 
were the next morning after planting, I was not sur¬ 
prised to find many of them cut off. I felt pretty blue 
over it, but as we had more plants we reset what were 
destroyed. In digging out the old roots we found 
from four to six nice fat cutworms; it is safe to say 
that they did not get a chance to do any more damage. 
After resetting all that were out we took unleached 
liard-wood ashes and put a good handful around each 
plant, so that the cutworms would have to crawl 
through the ashes in order to get at it. I do not know 
whether it was the ashes or not, but after we put 
them on we lost but few plants. The worms were 
there, for on digging around the plant we could get 
as many as six or seven. Did the ashes prevent the 
cutworms working or not ? Do any of 
your readers know anything about it? 
We started cultivating plants second 
day after setting, and though the wea¬ 
ther was very dry, they kept growing 
finely. The cultivator was run through 
them each way once a week until they 
got so big that there was not room for 
the horse to walk without stepping on 
them. We could not find a bit of the 
Quack grass at last cultivation. The 
first ripe tomatoes were picked about 
July 2.5, and on August 11 we began de¬ 
livering to the canning factory, and we 
look the last to the factory October 17, 
having in the meantime delivered 
bushels for which they paid 20 cents per 
bushel, amounting to $76.90. They also 
paid us $2.13 as premium extra on toma¬ 
toes delivered before September 1. Then 
I sold 20 bushels to the Italians at 25 
cents per bushel, $5, making in all a 
total of $84.03. Beside this amount we 
sold a great many pounds to the Ital¬ 
ians at one cent per pound, of which a separate ac¬ 
count was not kept. The varieties grown were Royal 
Red and Michigan Red Apple. The total cash outlay 
was $5. J. B- 
Fenton, N. Y. __ 
LATE SEEDING OF CLOVER. 
A member of our board of trustees, whose farm was 
in North Andover, in this State, made it his uniform 
practice to prepare land for seeding as late in the 
Fall as it could be worked, and then to put on the 
seed (mixed grass and clover) just before he consid¬ 
ered the ground likely to freeze for the Winter. He 
stated that he got better results through seeding in 
this way than in any other that he had ever tried. 
In his practice it was not expected that the seed would 
start to grow at all until the following Spring. I 
have on one occasion tried this plan, but on the es¬ 
tate belonging to the College it appears to me imprac¬ 
ticable, chiefly because most of our fields slope suffi¬ 
ciently so that if the land be smoothed as for grass 
and left uncovered through the Winter there will al¬ 
most invariably be serious washing, either during the 
Winter, when we are liable to have thaws, or early 
in the Spiung while the frost is coming out. I con¬ 
clude that there are few localities in our State where 
this plan would be practicable. 
Practically all seeding in this section is done in the 
standing corn the latter part of July or very early in 
August, i. e., at the time of the last cultivation, and 
grass and clover seeds are sown together at that time. 
Clover sown then becomes sufficiently well rooted so 
that it goes through our very trying Winters and 
Springs successfully, even on soils which are very 
heavy and retentive of moisture. This plan gives us 
far better results than any other we have ever tried. 
1 he field, it is true, is not quite as smooth as it could 
be made by replowing, but by level culture of corn in 
drills it is sufficiently smooth for all practical pur¬ 
poses. It is the practice to roll in the Spring to break 
down the corn stubble, and to help level such inequali¬ 
ties in surface as exist. Wherever corn is grown for 
the silo it is preferable to seed in this rather than 
in a crop Avhich is to be stooked and husked, for in 
case the crop is stooked grass and clover are likely 
to be somewhat killed where the stooks stand, and 
these spots must be reseeded. By seeding in the man¬ 
ner which I have indicated we get full crops and 
heavy yields the first year, for both clover and grass 
become thoroughly well established before cold wea¬ 
ther. If the grass is sown later and the clover during 
the Winter or in early Spring, the crops of the first 
year are never as heavy as under the plan which we 
follow. [Prof.] W. P. BROOKS. 
Massachusetts Agl. College. 
A ONE-SIDED ORANGE. 
The orange shown in Fig. 142 has an abnormal de¬ 
velopment of one of the carpels or divisions of the 
primitive ovary. The line of division is very plainly 
marked between the enlarged and normal portions. 
The reason why one division grew so much more vig¬ 
orously is, of course, obscure. We may assume that 
irritation of the primary cells of this particular car¬ 
pel by a different pollen could have been an exciting 
cause, though it is often denied that foreign pollen af¬ 
fects any part of the fruit except the seed germ. Each 
pollen granule contains two active cells; one unites 
with and fertilizes a seed ovule, but the action of the 
other has not yet been accounted for, though it is 
surmised that its vital force may be expended at 
times in affecting other portions of the fruit. There 
are other sources of irritation which also give a pos¬ 
sible explanation. The various orange species have 
been profoundly altered by long cultivation from the 
oHginal bitter, waxy berries, and many extraordinary 
forms occur from time to time. The oddest is prob¬ 
ably the Fingered citron, a sort of lemon, in which the 
individual carpels are separated and prolonged into 
a monstrous representation of the human hand. It is 
a Japanese curiosity scarcely known in this country, 
and of little practical value. The very valuable Navel 
orange, now almost monopolizing the markets, is 
really an abnormal seedless form, with adventitious 
cells near the tip imitating a smaller orange partly 
inclosed in the main fruit. The original tree grew 
near Pernambuco, Brazil. It was brought to the 
United States nearly 20 years ago, and is now perhaps 
more propagated than any other variety. 
EVERYBOOrS GARDEN. 
COMBIN.ATION TOOT.S.—The best of tools and 
plenty of them are, of course, much to be desired; but 
this involves an outlay which all cannot afford. Much 
expense may be saved by the purchase of combined 
tools, of which there are now many kinds advertised 
in these columns. A careful study of such tools will 
suggest many ways of adapting them to save time 
and labor. Thoroughly to understand the tool means 
to be able to take advantage of every condition and 
every possible combination, and turn them to the best 
account. The operator who is able to do this will ac¬ 
complish more and better work than can two men 
who know nothing of the implement they are attempt¬ 
ing to use; for illustration, a double-wheel hoe with 
rake, cultivator and plow attachments is used by me 
for many kinds of work. The plows set together are 
used for opening trenches for planting potatoes and 
all kinds of seed dropped closely or in drills; with the 
mold boards reversed and set apart the seed is nicely 
covered as rapidly as a man cares to walk. The hoes 
may be used set closely together, or apart for work¬ 
ing between or astride the rows, and the weeds go 
down fast or slow, according as your pace is. A very 
useful attachment and one quickly made is a weeder. 
Take a board one inch by three feet long, drive a row 
of wire spikes, size 40, four inches apart, and one inch 
in from each edge, driving second row so as to break 
joints with the first. Attach this to underside of 
wheel hoe with two small bolts, and you have a hand 
weeder that will work wonders in the garden. The 
stroke is too wide to push the implement easily; but 
it may be pulled after the operator, by the handles, 
weighting, if necessary to work deeper. A shorter 
one, say 18 inches long, is very useful for work be¬ 
tween the rows when plants are too high safely to go 
over them; this width may be pushed the same as 
the ordinary attachments, and either one serves a two¬ 
fold purpose, destroying all weeds, and leaving a fine 
dust mulch to conserve moisture. 
SUCCESSIONS OF PEAS.—At this writing the first 
early and medium sorts will be well under way; but 
successions for late Summer and early Autumn may 
be sown at intervals of two weeks up to July 1. For 
these later crops sow the extra early varieties which 
mature in 50 to 60 days from germination. Choose 
moist and cool ground for late planting, and use 
plenty of well-rotted manure. The finest crop of peas 
the writer has ever grown was sown on sandy soil 
with a heavy dressing of hen manure deeply spaded 
in. The peas were sown in double rows, with stakes 
between set six feet apart. When the first tendrils 
began to appear twine was run along the row with a 
turn around each stake. As the vines grew more 
strings were put on a few Inches apart. This holds 
them well in place, is more economical than brush, 
and is entirely practical for quite large areas. 
T RANSPLANTING.—Much loss of time and plants 
will be saved if the work of transplanting is properly 
done; and the first essential to this work is in thor¬ 
oughly fitting the ground. For a day or two previous 
to setting out the plants should be copiously watered 
and should never be pulled, but taken up in blocks, 
with as much wet soil adhering as pos¬ 
sible. The setting should always be 
done on freshly worked ground, and 
with these precautions may be safely 
done even in quite dry weather without 
the trouble of watering out. The tops 
of beets, mangels, cabbage, cauliflower, 
celery and tomatoes should be cut back, 
as they draw heavily upon the vitality, 
which ought to go to the roots. The 
dibber, trowel and spade all have their 
advocates; but whatever the method it 
pays to do the work without slighting. 
BEAN BLIGHT AND RUST.—These 
are common enemies of the Bean fam¬ 
ily, and as prevention is far cheaper 
than the cure it is safest to keep well 
ahead of these diseases. Danger from 
blight may be nearly or quite obviated 
by a liberal use of Bordeaux Mixture if 
taken in time. The Mixture may be 
safely used full strength, omitting the 
arsenites. Saltpeter and water in the 
proportion of one ounce to the gallon is 
a preventive of rust, and if plentifully applied to the 
foliage and about the roots will give a luxuriant 
growth. These remedies are, of course, most easily 
applied with the sprayer, but lacking this apply with 
watering pot, or whisk broom; anyway, only do not 
omit it. High authorities estimate that $3,000,000 
damage is annually done to crops in the United States 
by insects, fungi and blight. Most of this immense 
loss can be avoided by the judicious and persistent 
use of the appliances now at hand, such as sprayers, 
fumigators, insecticides and fungicides now thor¬ 
oughly tested and known to be effectual. Outfits to 
suit all pocketbooks and conditions are available, and 
their use should become general. 
LIMING THE SEED BED.—For the late cabbage 
and cauliflower plants it is well to apply a liberal 
amount of air-slaked lime, thoroughly working it in¬ 
to the ground before sowing the seed; as it destroys 
worms and is a safeguard against club-root. Be sure 
of strong vitality in the seed, and do not make the 
bed where any suspicion of club-root exists. Some 
successful growers, instead of sowing the seed in 
beds, plant it where the crop is to grow; four or five 
seeds to the hill, covering lightly and thinning out 
after the plants are well established. This method 
saves the labor and risk of transplanting, as also the 
delay frequently consequent upon lack of ram, just 
when one is ready for the work. Personal experi¬ 
ments with this method have not been satisfactory, as 
the plants were destroyed by the Cabbage flea about 
a.s fast as they appeared above ground. In many lo¬ 
calities where the flea has become a pest its ravages 
have been entirely overcome by sowing the seed in 
large, shallow boxes set on posts six or seven feet 
high. “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good,” 
is always safe advice, and sure to lead right in the 
end. j. E. MORSE. 
Michigan. 
ON A COLORADO MOUNTAIN RANCH. Fig. 143. 
