1905. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
567 
PLANTING TREES IN THE BRUSH. 
Some of the earlier setting of apple trees which bore 
last year had been set seven years; fruit was extra fine 
and fair. I think that I farm different from many other 
people. There is one way to farm for pleasure, and 
another for profit. I came on the farm 15 years ago, 
and the first year set 700 trees; pear, plum, peach and 
apple. I knew nothing of the business before, and of 
course every paper that I read said cultivate your trees. 
1 followed this about five years, and put a lot of 
money into cultivation. I had a large piece of 
wild land on top of sandstone ledge, densely 
covered with second-growth timber, grapevine 
and brush. I cleaned this as best I could and 
set it to apples and cherries. The first setting 
of this kind was eight years ago. I found this 
land was full of briers and all kinds of brush, 
and it was a big expense to keep them cut, so 
I bought sheep and put in, and they have saved 
me many a hard day’s work in brush cutting; 
besides which the land is coming into fine pas¬ 
ture, and better still, I sold my wool for 30 
cents and just sold April lambs for $4 each. I 
have always had this for lambs, so instead of 
putting in a lot of money in cutting brush and 
briers I get off a money crop every year, whether 
there is a crop of apples or not, and the land 
is getting better. 
About every two years I put a good wheel¬ 
barrow load of stable manure around each tree, 
until they get to good size; as to fine trees and 
growth no one can beat it. They are fine, with 
smooth shi-ny bark and good growth. My the¬ 
ory is that a tree must have room. 1 set 40 x 40 
feet diagonally. In plowing an orchard 
that has not been plowed for a few years 
it is pretty hard work, because there are 
so many roots. What do you suppose 
those roots are so near the surface for? 
Is it to be cut off with the plow? I 
think when nature fixed up her plan of 
the tree, she did not know of the plow, 
so I think she planned to have the roots 
come to the surface to get the stuff to 
put in the apple to give it weight, color, 
flavor and keeping qualities. July 4 we 
used the last of our apples, and they were 
kept in an ordinary house cellar in otie- 
half bushel baskets. No other cover, 
and they were sound and firm; Russet, 
Mann and Stark. I have not sprayed 
my apples. I spray plums and cherries, 
but when a wormy fruit of any kind 
drops a sheep always gets it, worm and 
all; that ends the worm. I had Alex¬ 
ander, Maiden Blush, Duchess, Yellow 
Transparent, Wealthy and Jonathan last 
season that I put in the Cleveland mar¬ 
ket. They went to fancy trade at top 
prices. 
I have seven acres in peaches, with 
Ben Davis set in; trees set nine years. 
The fruit on these trees is not so fair 
as in the open orchard, and I do not 
think it will be until the peaches are 
gone. I believe my plan is all right, be¬ 
cause I get good growth of tree, good 
fruit and a paying crop every year, either 
in fruit or wool and lambs, or both, and 
no expense comparatively; land growing 
better all the time. In selling wool and 
lambs no fertility is lost to speak of. I 
protect my trees from rabbits and wood¬ 
chucks with one-inch mesh poultry wire, 
cut in strips and put around the tree. 
Ohio. AUSTIN HERRICK. 
GRAIN FOR PASTURED COWS. 
In the first place, I can say positively 
that it always pays to feed some grain 
for 10 days or two weeks after the 
cows first go on the grass. While they 
do not need it to increase the milk flow, 
they do need it to keep up their strength 
and help to counteract the effect on their 
systems of the change from Winter feed, 
containing a large amount of dry matter, 
to the watery fresh grass of pasture. 
The amount may be gradually reduced, until the grass 
gets its full strength. After that it is a question that 
depends wholly on the character of the pasture. With 
ordinary good pasture I believe most times the extra 
milk secured from grain fed will no more than pay for 
the grain. Of course the price for both milk and grain 
will be an important factor. This, standing alone, 
would seem to indicate that it does not pay. There is 
another side, however, that must be considered; the 
condition of the cow. No cow can make her best 
year’s record unless she is in first-class condition. 
After the last, of June, on ordinary pasture, with flies 
to fight, the cows will usually lose in flesh, as well as 
shrink in milk flow. 
This means that they will not produce in the Fall 
and Winter what they would have done had not a por¬ 
tion of their feed gone to making flesh. Nor will they 
do as well at the next milking period after freshening. 
Of this I am positive. Then, too, when for any reason 
the glands that secrete the milk have shrunken, no sub¬ 
sequent feeding will ever bring them back fully until 
is necessary in order to secure most satisfactory results. 
A bit of experience of the past two seasons may be 
helpful. Last year, with fair pasture, supplemented by- 
all the green feed they would eat in the stable, I fed no 
grain to my cows until the last of August. The milk 
flow was all that could be desired, but I noticed they 
were losing flesh, and beginning to slacken their milk. 
I then began to give two pounds of grain daily, but 
did not get quite enough more milk to pay for the 
grain. I then stopped the grain for a week, and lost 
what milk 1 had gained, and nearly a quart per 
cow daily beside, when I again gave the grain 
and got back where I was before. I am satisfied 
that had I fed from $1 to $2 worth of grain each 
to those cows during the Summer I would have 
received from $4 to $5 each more product during 
the Fall and Winter. 
This season one dairy of 19 cows has had 
grain every day since they went to pasture. 
They have shrunk in their milk since less than 
a quart a day each. Another dairy of 25 cows 
had no grain for about three weeks after the 
first 10 days on pasture. Then they were fed 
two pounds daily of the same grain as the 
others. They have shrunk two quarts each, and 
are still shrinking in spite of abundance of oats 
and peas. In both dairies are a number of tows 
long in milk and only two or tfiree fresh in the 
Spring. Pastures very short in both cases, but 
up to June 1 the latter dairy had decidedly the 
best pasture. edward van alstyne. 
HOGS ON A SEWAGE IRRIGATION FARM. Fig. 238. 
A SOUTH JERSEY FIELD PACKING SHED. Fig. 239. 
A LOAD OF GANDY STRAWBERRIES. Fig. 240. 
the cow freshens again. Another matter often over¬ 
looked is the better quality of the manure that helps 
to build up the pasture. In view of the above, I would 
say that after the grass has full strength, if there is 
abundant feed to keep up both flow and flesh, it will 
not pay to feed grain. Most times the extra milk 
will not pay for grain, but the better condition of the 
cow will, and as pastures usually run it will pay to feed 
gain, say a couple of pounds daily. What the grain 
shall be depends a good deal on the cost. I have found 
that a ration rather high in carbohydrate? at this season 
PUBLIC SPRAYING NOTES. 
Very little public spraying is done here, most 
orchardists having their own outfits, and 
therefore doing their own work, but the 
change from hand to power pumps that 
is taking place here as well as in all 
large fruit sections wilt cause men to 
take up the work as a business. When 
this is done the price for doing the work 
will be determined by the size of the 
trees to be sprayed and the number of 
gallons of material required per tree. 
No iron-clad rule can be established to 
govern, as conditions vary too much. 
Four years ago I sprayed 7,000 peach 
trees for my neighbors with lime, sul¬ 
phur and salt. The trees averaged seven 
years old. I furnished everything, made 
the mixture and applied it, and charged 
five cents a tree. I lost no money on the 
job. The work was done with a hand 
pump. I could do the same work now 
with my power sprayer for three cents a 
tree and make money. I just completed 
a job of work covering orchards of 60 
acres of apples and Kieffer pears, aver¬ 
age age of the trees 15 years, set 20 feet 
apart, where land is strong. Culture has 
been perfect and trees of very large 
growth. I used upon them 12,000 gallons 
of Bordeaux. My charge for this work 
was $5 per day for the use of my gas 
sprayer and myself to operate it, or one 
cent per tree. The persons for whom 
this work was done accepted the charge 
of $5 per day. In this case they fur¬ 
nished everything in the way of labor 
and material, and paid for gas required 
to operate the sprayer. One day when 
the material was furnished ready to go 
into the sprayer right in the orchard, so 
all extra driving and time lost thereby 
was saved, I sprayed 1,300 eight-year-old 
Kieffer pear trees, covering the trees 
absolutely. 
MAKING BORDEAUX. — During 
May I made 18,000 gallons of Bordeaux. 
T have used the process lime and the 
quicklime, and I am surprised that such 
high authority as Prof. Slingerland 
should recommend process lime for mak¬ 
ing Bordeaux. From my experience I 
would not give one barrel of Bordeaux 
made from quicklime for two made from 
the process lime; in fact, I will never use 
process lime again. It makes a miser¬ 
ably poor quality of Bordeaux; it has no life, is hard to 
handle in the pumps and through the nozzles, and seems 
to shale off after drying on the trees, carrying the vitriol 
with it as well as the poisons. Let the Professor revise 
his opinion, as what has gone out will injure many 
people. _ a. n. BROWN. 
Some people are very sensitive to electrical influences, 
and suffer greatly during thunderstorms. They fear the 
thunder. Let them remembei that there is r.o danger In the 
noise. The only danger is in the flash, and if thty bear 
the thunder they may know that they an «8fe. 
