July 37 
5i4 
HOWARD’S SEEDLING No. 4. FlO. 218. 
See Ruralisms, Page 518. 
EVERYBOOrS GARDEN. 
AN EXPERIMENT STATION.—Every gardener 
knows or should know his own needs best as to 
what his soil requires; the demands of his particular 
trade, varieties that will best satisfy those demands, 
etc. Then why wait for some one else to develop 
what will meet his requirements where the other 
fellow knows nothing of them, or of his surround¬ 
ings? Why not, as circumstances permit, work out 
these problems one’s self? No work in the garden 
will prove more satisfactory, or perhaps more profit¬ 
able in the outcome than the improvement of vegeta¬ 
bles; these improvements may become apparent in 
many particulars as form, size, color, quality, pro¬ 
ductiveness, early maturity, etc. These may all be 
brought about by careful selection of seed stock from 
year to year. 
EARLINiESS.—In nearly every variety of vegeta¬ 
bles sown or planted there will always be discovered 
one or more plants with a marked degree of ad¬ 
vanced development, which brings them to maturity 
several days in advance of the general crop. Care¬ 
fully mark these plants, and from the very finest spec¬ 
imens save the seed for next year’s planting. The 
idea prevails that plants produced from seed saved 
from fruits or vegetables only partially ripe, will 
ripen their fruits much earlier than those irom seed 
fully ripened; this is quite noticeable in the tomato. 
Extended experiments clearly demonstrate this fact, 
but they also indicate that the extended use from 
year to year of this immature seed will greatly impair 
vitality. The restricted use of unripe seed is there¬ 
fore necessary; and while helpful at first in estab¬ 
lishing early maturity, it should be discarded as soon 
as the quality bef'omes fixed, and fully matured seed 
from earliest specimens be used for future work. 
SIZE AND PRODU'CTIVBN^ESS.—The same gener¬ 
al principles carried out as to size and yield will in¬ 
sure very desirable changes in these features. A very 
interesting case is cited in the Year Book of Agri¬ 
culture, 1898, of seed corn of the white dent, red cob 
variety. Previous to harvesting the main crop, the 
field was carefully gone over and only short stocky 
stalks bearing two ears each were selected for the 
following year’s seed. By a careful four year’s 
selection, the yield was increased 25 per cent. The 
same is doubtless true of nearly all vegetables, and 
as to the ultimate profits in this work there is no 
room for doubt. 
UNIFORMITY IN MATURING.—With many veg¬ 
etables this is almost an Indispensable quality; for 
example, peas grown for market where the ground 
Is required for other crops. So few people know how 
properly to pick peas. Especially have we found 
this true with hired help, whose sole object is to get 
through with the job, regardless of consequences; the 
vines are lifted bodily out of the ground, or so loos¬ 
ened that they wither up with whatever peas are 
left. Immature pods are stripped off with the good 
ones, and it often happens, especially in hot, dry 
weather, that the first picking is practically the end 
of the crop. Hence the desirability of uniform matur¬ 
ity. For the small home garden, where it is desired 
to prolong the season, we should try to develop a con¬ 
tinuous-bearing strain. In lettuce culture in the forc¬ 
ing house, where the profits of the work are depend¬ 
ent upon one crop following another in quick suc¬ 
cession, or where the lettuce crop is followed by cu¬ 
cumbers, uniformity in growth and maturity is the 
great essential. This feature has been so carefully 
worked up by the growers that they are able to cut the 
entire crop in one day. It is almost needless to add 
that these gardeners are obliged to grow their own 
seed and can depend upon no other source of supply. 
QUAEITY.—'Improvement in this respect is a de¬ 
sirable basis of experiment and can be attained in 
nearly all varieties of fruits and vegetables. The 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
tomato and melon families are very susceptible to 
work along this line, and we also find them as ready 
to "run out" or become Inferior, if attention to these 
details shall relax. To establish a particular type 
will involve more time and labor perhaps than some 
of the features above mentioned, but patience and 
painstaking efforts have accomplished wonders. Many 
striking illustrations might be given as verifying 
this particular thought, and later on a history of the 
development of some well known varieties may be of 
interest. « 
ADAPTABILITY OF THE WORK.—While the 
field of development in all its detail would be legiti¬ 
mate and feasible only for the scientist there is much 
that is entirely practicable for the farmer and gar¬ 
dener either in small or large operations. The import¬ 
ance of the work may be better understood when we 
remember that it is to these very lines of experiment 
we are indebted for all our best varieties of grains, 
fruits, flowers and vegetables. 
FIXED PURPOSE.—Prof. Tracy, a high authority 
on the subject, says: "My success in seed-breeding 
has always been in direct proportion to the clearne.ss 
of my conception of the ideal I was striving to pro¬ 
duce, and the persistency with which I adhered to 
that ideal in my annual selection of breeding stock.” 
Get the idea of the particular point which you wish 
to develop clearly fixed in your mind; work for that 
one thing and stick to it. If other desirable features 
develop, use them as side issues, but work them sep¬ 
arately; do not try to combine them with what you 
are already developing, as these "frills” might only 
appear as a passing freak, and then disappear. Work 
steadily for the one desired object, not allowing new 
features to draw you aside from the one definite plan. 
Michigan. J. e. morse. 
PASTURING THE ORCHARD. 
Sheep the Apple Grower’s Partners. 
Since my article touching on the above subject ap¬ 
peared in The R. N.-Y. I have been flooded with let¬ 
ters asking for more definite information on the sub¬ 
ject, and a few have been criticising me for, as they 
say, misleading the orchardist. Now, if there is any¬ 
thing which I would not do, it is to mislead any tiller 
AN ENGLISH POTATO HARVESTER. Fig. 219. 
of the soil. But I am very sure I am right in advis¬ 
ing the pasturing of apple orchards with hogs and 
sheep. If people will only read what I write care¬ 
fully, and follow my advice to the letter, I am sure 
they will find how to raise high-colored, fine-grained 
and well-flavored fruit, freest from insects, that will 
keep longest and in best condition, and to raise it at 
least expense. But they must not misunderstand me. 
I do not advise seeding an orchard nor keeping it in 
sod. Simply stop cultivating, put in the sheep, feed 
them and let the grass come in naturally, if it comes 
at all. Don’t think that 10 sheep are enough for a 
10-acre orchard, but put 10 or 15 sheep to the acre, 
overstock so heavily as to compel you to feed, and 
then feed enough to keep the sheep thriving and feed 
with a view of feeding the orchard through the sheep. 
To convince himself that I am right, let any man 
fence off an acre of orchard and put 15 sheep into it, 
providing plenty of fresh clean water for them at all 
times, and feed them 15 pounds wheat bran a day. 
Keep the sheep there until the apples are fit for mar¬ 
ket, no matter if they do eat a few fallen ines, and 
all they can reach from the lower part of the trees; 
there will be just as many when it comes picking time. 
Just watch and see how soon the trees will take on 
a cloak of green color, thick and vigorous, and how 
hard and stocky the wood will become; how firm 
and highly colored the fruit will be, far beyond the 
part kept in constant cultivation. While this amount 
of bran will make the sheep thrive better than in any 
pasture, however good it may be, they will eat the 
grass to the very roots, eat all sprouts from about 
the roots, and take every fallen apple long before the 
contained Codling moth or maggot can escape, and 
their constant tramping under the trees will break 
up the surface and in a great measure conserve the 
moisture for the use of the trees. 
If 15 sheep be kept on an acre, and they be fed 15 
pounds of wheat bran a day for seven months, the 
length of time they may be kept in the orchard be¬ 
fore and after the crop is picked, they will be fed 
3,150 pounds of bran, which will contain 51 pounds 
potash, 102 pounds phosphoric acid and 83 pounds of 
nitrogen. If the sheep are mature very nearly all this 
will be scattered under the trees, which will be far 
more than will be taken in the largest crop of apples, 
and the soils will grow better instead of poorer. For 
the information of many who have asked how to pre¬ 
vent the sheep from lying all the time in some par¬ 
ticular part of the orchard let me say that sheep are 
quite prone to lie about in the vicinity where fed, and 
by changing the location of feeding troughs once or 
twice a week they may be made to scatter the ma¬ 
nure very evenly over the whole orchard. In con¬ 
structing the troughs in which to feed the bran it is 
much better to make them with a wide flat bottom 
than V-shaped, as they then will not be likely to 
“scoop” out the feed and waste it. It is also well to 
make them double so that by turning over each time 
a clean trough will be had. The best trough will be 
made as follows: Use three boards eight inches wide 
and one inch thick, of sound timber. The only draw¬ 
back to pasturing orchards with sheep is that the or¬ 
dinary orchardist does not have a place in which to 
put his sheep at such times as he is picking his 
apples, and during Winter, but it will be to the ad¬ 
vantage of every apple grower to try as indicated a 
part of his orchard, and I think the result will be so 
satisfactory that he will make an extra effort to pro¬ 
vide some way to care for them when picking his 
apples, and by Winter feeding he cannot only find 
profitable employment for the Winter months, but 
make a little money and lots of manure for use in 
the orchards or on the farm. j. s. woodward. 
HORSE SHOE FARM NOTES. 
CUD AND KICK.—The Hope Farm man has a pe¬ 
culiar faculty of looking at a subject from the off 
side, and makes a good point out of chewing the cud, 
as far as men are concerned, but that won’t apply to 
a cow. As far as I am concerned, chewing the cud of 
reflection is disagreeable, and the taste bitter; with 
the cow it’s a pleasure, a sweet morsel, and not in¬ 
dulged in when she is in a fighting mood, or nervous. 
A. L. S. is a student observing, and was right when 
he said: “When a cow chews her cud there is no 
kick in her heart." Watch her close her eyes, and 
chew the "grass hash”; contentment and pleasure 
combined are very perceptible. The perfect milker 
will so perform the operation of milking that this 
calm mood is not broken. A cow becomes accus¬ 
tomed to a certain milker or manner, and for best 
results in manners and milk should be milked the 
same way each time. I do not think it makes any 
difference whether Cook’s slow uniform man or Man¬ 
chester’s quick, rapid milker performs the task, pro¬ 
vided the same manner is employed every time. 
.\LFALFA HAY.—Many experiment plots of Al¬ 
falfa have been sown in this section, and owing to 
continued wet weather a complete stand has been 
secured. Alfalfa hay, where it has been tried, gave 
very satisfactory results, and the buyers tried to get 
more. I do not believe there will be many farmere 
that will want to sell that hay. It seems strange that 
the cured hay would cause bloating, and I would like 
to know whether there are any cases of loss known, 
from feeding well-cured Alfalfa hay. For best re¬ 
sults it should be cut the first time before many blos¬ 
soms appear. The late cutting of the first crop seems 
to injure the plant, more than at any other time. 
The second cutting will be smaller, and may be the 
only one if the plants are allowed to become mature, 
while early cutting invigorates the plants. The great 
value of Alfalfa is in the protein, and the largest 
per cent is found before there are many blossoms. 
The leaves contain three times as much protein as 
the stems, and the directions for saving them on 
page 449 are valuable. c. e. chapman. 
HOWARD STRAWBERRY (BLACK’S). Fig. 220. 
See Ruralisms, Page 518. 
