8o2 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
November 30 
We understand that you have trees which began 
to bear six years from setting. 
The six-year-old trees (Spy) that bore this year 
were purchased of a Syracuse nursery. There were 
150 in this lot; nearly all had a few apples on them 
this year, and all of them were similar in type. They 
have all been carefully mulched to strengthen bud 
formation. The eleven and nine-year-old trees that 
bore heavily were from different nurseries, and I 
could see no difference in type. 
Do you observe much difference in the same va¬ 
riety? 
I have a Fameuse that always produces pale fruit, 
and also those that produce red fruit. Next Spring 
I am going to graft a Ben Davis that produces bright 
red fruit with a graft from the pale Fameuse, and a 
graft from the red Fameuse, and see whether the 
type holds good in the new surroundings. The pale 
Fameuse is crowded by a Trancendent crab, which 
is a gross feeder, and that may be the trouble with 
the color. 
You think, then, that crowding the trees too close 
together will give light-colored fruit? 
A Wealthy tree at first gave high-colored fruit, but 
its root pasturage is becoming restricted by other 
trees, and I notice that each year its fruit is becom¬ 
ing paler. I observed this year that when a tree is 
heavily loaded the lower apples remain pale until 
the upper ones are picked; then the lower or pale 
ones color up, showing that the tree didn’t have 
strength to color up all at once. I notice that the 
same variety behaves differently in different loca¬ 
tions, in size, color and quality. 
What can the orchardist do then to know that his 
fruit will be first class? 
It seems to be a case of each one finding out for 
himself what is best for his particular location. 
Now, as to what I am doing this Fall, I have ordered 
125 Spy, 75 from a Syracuse nursery, 50 of Rogers 
pedigree trees. The trees from Syracuse are grown 
on heavy clay, rich in potash, and are full of vitality. 
The pedigreed trees are smaller, but have a known 
parentage. I shall watch their development with in¬ 
terest. The trees from that heavy clay have always 
started better with me than the trees from other 
nurseries. 
What would be your advice to a beginner? 
I would hunt for trees four or five years old, one 
and one half to two inches through, that stand from 
four to six feet apart in nursery row; have had good 
root pasturage and appear very healthy. These trees 
must have stored up in their tissue a good deal of 
vitality, and I think they would soon come into bear¬ 
ing if one would nourish the buds during Summer 
and Fall and not stimulate wood growth by Spring 
cultivation. Mulch the trees when first set to hold 
moisture until roots become established, and then 
let grass in Spring take up fertility and prevent ex¬ 
cessive wood growth. Letting this grass decay on 
ground during Fall to feed the fruit buds is the key¬ 
note of my practice. Doing this saves a lot of labor, 
and I believe it is in the long run the best way. 
Then you would not bud or graft with wood from 
your best trees? 
I have hardly confidence enough in the plan to 
warrant me in going to all the bother of doing It for 
myself, the results from so many varieties being sat¬ 
isfactory the other way. I have tried some pedigree 
strawberry plants alongside of others, and the ped¬ 
igree failed to pan out. The plants that didn’t have 
any pedigree were rather the better in fruiting. 
Yet, notwithstanding the evidence seems to indicate 
that it does not appear to pay to bother with “pedigree 
trees,’’ I am buying them, and paying more for them, 
for the theory seems all right, and if there is any¬ 
thing to it I want to be in line. 
Shall you make any change in your plan of setting 
the trees? 
I am setting the rows 38 feet apart and 30 feet in 
the row, every other one a Spy. I shall use Wagener, 
Sutton Beauty and Rome Beauty as fillers. I am 
also setting 400 plums this Fall, and intend setting 
1,000 peach trees in Spring, and shall follow the 
same method of culture with all. I have 200 pears, 
1,800 apples now set, and am planning to increase 
apples up to 2,500. 
TOMATOES IN MEXICO.—The latest idea for getting 
rich at farming is reported by an Oregon man, E. P. 
Cadwell, who Is reported as saying: “Tomatoes will be 
10 cents a pound in January, and we have already 50,000 
plants set out In Mexico that will bear fruit by that 
time. We will ship the tomatoes in refrigerator cars 
and land them in Chicago, within a few days after they 
are picked. On arriving at their destination the cars 
will be run Into warehouses heated to a degree that will 
enable the shipments to be unloaded without danger of 
freezing. One of my acquaintances has made $100,000 in 
five years raising tomatoes for the American Winter 
supply. Labor is cheap and the Mexican government is 
not averse to American capita! being invested there, and 
so we anticipate smooth sailing.” Tomato talk costs no 
more than any other sort. 
A TALK ABOUT FERTILIZERS. 
Part I. 
I wish to use chemical fertilizers but am not able to de¬ 
cide what my land needs. It seems to me fertilizer manu¬ 
facturers would help to a more intelligent use of their 
goods if they would give a farmer some method by which 
he could determine what chemicals his different fields and 
crops need. Many farmers are condemning artificial fer¬ 
tilizers and saying that the old method of manuring with 
lime and barnyard manure will be resorted to again and 
chemicals dropped largely. What wonder is this when two 
farmers will use the same kind of fertilizer and have differ¬ 
ent results? Others say that they have used the chemicals and 
have seen no benefit. One man claims that the use of South 
Carolina rock has rendered his land sour, and clover will not 
thrive on it. What constituents of chemical fertilizers have 
a tendency to make land acid? 1 believe nitrate of soda 
and barnyard manure have a tendency to sweeten the soil. 
This latter Is proved in potatoes grown on ground manured 
with stable manure and showing scab. The scab does not 
show on a sour soil. Are there any trees, plants, grains, 
or grasses, that are usually grown by farmers, that show by 
their condition of growth what plant food they have a 
surplus of or what they are deficient in? If not, what can be 
planted as an experimental plant in cultivated crops that 
would indicate what the soil needed? If the soil is acid, 
what crop removes this acid more than othei’s? I have 
heard a strawberry grower say clover always came in the 
ground profusely where he grew strawberries. Did the 
strawberries take an acid out of the soil and make it sweeter 
for clover? Is there not a work on clover and Its uses? 
West Chester, Pa. o. R. l. 
Our experience is that there is not much complaint 
from those farmers who use fair amounts of high- 
grade complete fertilizers in systematic rotations. 
BEGINNING ALL OVER AGAIN. Fie. 3t>4. 
By “complete” fertilizer we mean one containing 
nitrogen, potash and phosphoric acid in proportions 
suited to the crop. By “high-grade” we mean mix¬ 
tures in which the nitrogen and the phosphoric acid 
are in several different forms. 
We observe that complaint usually comes from 
those who use very small amounts of these high-grade 
fertilizers or from those who use low-grade or 
“cheap” goods. By “low-grade” we mean a mixture 
which usually contains only one form of nitrogen 
and but little of it, and a small amount of some crude 
form of potash. A mixture of dissolved phosphate 
rock with a small amount of tankage, or fish scrap, 
with enough kainit to give a low per cent of potash, 
would be what we call a low-grade fertilizer. On a 
heavy clay soil with a rotation including clover such 
a mixture might give fair satisfaction for some years. 
Another farmer on a lighter soil might find it very 
unsatisfactory. This result would not prove that all 
chemical fertilizers are useless, but it would show 
that the soil of that farm needed more nitrogen and 
potash than the low-grade mixture supplied. If a 
farmer on poor, light soil were to use manure that 
had been leached out by rain, so that the liquids 
ran away, he would find that it gave little better sat¬ 
isfaction than the low-grade fertilizer. This would 
be for about the same reason, for in one case Nature 
washed the nitrogen and potash out of the manure, 
while in the other case the manufacturer never pxit 
these substances into the fertilizer. Few farmers 
who use the high-grade complete fertilizers in fair 
quantities and in a reasonable rotation, seriously talk 
of giving up chemicals entirely. There should be no 
“wonder” about it, for it is simply impossible to make 
an excess of phosphoric acid supply a deficiency of 
nitrogen and potash. 
There are various ways of testing the soil to deter¬ 
mine what element is needed. What is known as the 
“litmus test” will indicate the need of lime. We have 
explained this test several times. A surer test is to 
put the lime on parts of the field and thus give a 
chance for comparison. To make this test a farmer 
should use a complete fertilizer, so that any shortage 
in the crop will not be due to a lack of either of the 
three elements. Then take strips through the field 
and use, in addition to the fertilizer, lime at the rate 
of 1 to 1^4 ton per acre. This lime should be 
put broadcast on the furrows and harrowed in. 
Make these strips large enough so that they will rep¬ 
resent a fair share of an acre. Observe the growth of 
the crop on these limed strips and measure it accu¬ 
rately; do not guess or trust to the eye. This will 
give a sure indication as to the need of lime. 
To test the soil as to its need of nitrogen, potash 
and phosphoric acid, four such strips may be used. 
On one we would use a mixture of nitrogen and phos¬ 
phoric acid; on another potash and nitrogen; on an¬ 
other potash and phosphoric acid, and on another all 
three. Fair comparisons of the crops produced on 
these strips ought to tell the story as to which ele¬ 
ment is most needed. To furnish potash for this ex¬ 
periment we should use muriate or sulphate of pot¬ 
ash at the rate of 200 pounds, or one bag, per acre. 
We would use dissolved phosphate rock or bone black 
at the rate of 600 pounds per acre to furnish phos¬ 
phoric acid, and nitrate of soda at the rate of 300 
pounds per acre to furnish nitrogen. In such an ex¬ 
periment we should sow broadcast these chemicals 
after plowing, and harrow them in At the experi¬ 
ment stations, plots of various sizes would be used 
for this experiment, but for a farmer it seems to us 
more desirable to use strips of several rows directly 
through the field. This is more practical as regards 
the crop, and also gives a better test of the whole 
field. It is true that dissolved phosphate rock, when 
used in large quantities, does tend to sour the soil. 
The same is true of sulphate of ammonia and prob¬ 
ably to some extent of muriate of potash, though 
these are not always used in large enough quantities 
to show any injurious effect. The ammonia in farm 
manure is alkaline and will, to a certain extent, 
“sweeten” the soil much as lime does. It is true that 
potato scab appears to thrive best when the soil is 
alkaline. The plowing in of a green crop, or the use 
of dissolved phosphate rock in the hill or drill, may 
keep the soil acid and thus reduce the growth of 
scab, or the use of lime or manure may so “sweeten” 
the soil as to increase the action of the scab. We 
will try to answer the questions regarding the be¬ 
havior of plants in an acid soil next week. 
COW PEAS IN DELAWARE. 
I read with interest the article on page 770, en¬ 
titled Cow Peas at the North. I hope that S. B. Rob¬ 
bins will not make a failure of his peas by planting 
too early next year. The first week in .Tune is early 
enough to begin planting cow peas here, and our 
seasons are nearly a month earlier than Massachu¬ 
setts. The Mt. Olive is a good variety for the North, 
as it will mature pods in 65 to 70 days, and makes a 
good, strong, bushy vine. They grew vines over four 
feet high and heavily branched this season. The 
seeds of Mt. Olive are much smaller than the 
large Early Black peas, and one bushel of Mt. Olive 
seed is plenty for three acres. I drill them in rows 
32 inches apart, and cultivate about three times. 
W. L. M. will find that both his cows and hogs will 
eat peavines with great relish if he feeds very lightly 
at first, until the animals acquire a taste for them. 
I find that it pays well to drill in about 300 pounds 
per acre of acid phosphate and potash mixture with 
the cow peas. The present Fall weather has been 
very favorable for securing cow-pea seed of excellent 
quality, but these seeds will never be grown on a large 
scale, or become less than ?1 to $1.50 per bushel in 
price, until a practical steam-power thrasher is in¬ 
troduced, which will bull out the peas without break¬ 
ing them. 
PLOWING UNDER THE VINES.—W. L. M.’s plan 
is a good one where a hand plow is used, and I 
formerly practiced it, but with the extremely heavy 
growth which we obtain here it was a slow and 
tedious job to turn them under. This year we used 
a double disk plow drawn by four horses and turning 
two 11-inch furrows. The operator rides, and any 
boy who can manage the horses can do good work 
with it. This plow will turn under the heaviest 
growth of vines without any clogging whatever. It 
covers the vines completely and leaves the surface 
almost as smooth as if harrowed. This plow will 
also do excellent work in plowing under clover, to¬ 
mato vines, corn stubble, wheat stubble, etc., but does 
pot wor]£ well in sod. e. g. Packard. 
