646 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
September 2, 
plantings, and give the best of care and attention, which 
will give better results than large plantings and neglect. 
Below is the list of fruits recommended by the Horti¬ 
cultural Society of Central Illinois for their district, 
which will do for a basis, my main objection to it being 
that so many varieties of some fruits are named as to 
be confusing to the amateur. Add any fruits which are 
specially successful in the immediate neighborhood and 
reject any on this list which are failures in the locality. 
Apples for family orchard: Summer, Benoni, Sops of 
Wine, Early Harvest, Duchess, Golden Sweet, Keswick 
Codlin. Fall, Maiden’s Blush, Fameuse, Autumn Straw¬ 
berry, Wealthy, Ramsdell Sweet. Early Winter, Jona- 
athan, Roman Stem, Grimes Golden. Late Winter, 
Minkier, Ben Davis, Missouri Pippin, Willow, Rail’s 
Janet. Crab apples, Hyslop, Transcendent. Standard 
pears, Tyson, Howell, Flemish Beauty, Sheldon, Kieffer, 
Seckel, Sudduth, Lincoln, Garber, Lawrence. Dwarf 
pears, Duchess. Plums, DeSoto, Damson, Miner, Wild 
Goose, Wolf, Japan, Red June, Abundance, Burbank, 
Pottawattamie. Cherries (early), Richmond, (English) 
Morello, Montmorency, Dyehouse. Blackberries, Snyder, 
Early Harvest. Raspberries, red, Turner, Cuthbert; 
black, Gregg, Kansas, Older; purple, Columbian, Shaf¬ 
fer. Strawberries, Crescent, Lovett, Bubach, Warfield, 
Haverland, Clyde, Dunlap. Late, Gandy, Parker Earle, 
Brandywine. Grapes, Moore’s Early, Worden, Poekling- 
ton. Woodruff Red, Concord, Niagara, Brighton. Goose¬ 
berries, Houghton, Downing. Currants, Red Dutch, 
Fay's Prolific, White Grape. 
It is generally recommended not to plant too large 
blocks of one variety of apple, and especially of pear 
and plum trees, but to mix varieties to some extent, as 
giving better fertilization, and consequently better crops 
of fruit; therefore I do not know why one tree of a kind 
among other apple or pear trees would not bear as well 
as though there were several of a kind. 
Bureau Co., Ill. L. r. bryant. 
I am not acquainted with the locality where these trees 
and plants are to be planted. In the absence of exact 
knowledge as to the best varieties for that soil and 
situation, the best advice that can be given is to inquire 
of those who have had experience in the locality where 
the trees are to be planted, and find out what varieties 
endure the climate and give most satisfactory results. 
In that locality I should plant fewer peach—not more 
than 10—and six or eight plum will be ample for fam¬ 
ily use. If I wanted to occupy a certain amount of 
ground with trees and small fruits I would increase 
the amount of apples, as they are most likely to give 
best returns, and the surplus easier disposed of. The 
number of trees and plants suggested, if well cared for, 
ought to afford a surplus above that for family use. 
As to pollination—when different varieties of apple, 
pear, etc., are planted near each other there will be 
no difficulty about perfect fertilization. c. m. hobbs. 
Marion Co., Ind. 
I would plant as follows: Apple—one Yellow Trans¬ 
parent, one Early Strawberry, one Autumn Strawberry, 
two Duchess, two Maiden’s Blush, two Large Rambo, 
one Golden Sweet, four Jonathan, two Missouri Pippin, 
two Ben Davis, four Rome Beauty, two Winesap, two 
Huntsman Favorite, two Grimes. I cannot recommend 
any pear that would pay for planting; they are all blight¬ 
ing here. Plum—Shropshire Damson, Wild Goose. I 
have tried a great many of Burbank’s seedlings; they are 
no good here. Peach—two Champion, two Early Craw¬ 
ford, two Mountain Rose, four Elberta, four Oldmixon 
Cling, four Oldmixon Free, two Large York. Cherry 
—two Early Richmond, Late Richmond or Duke; they 
are sure bearers, never fail with me. I have abandoned 
all others. Raspberries—blackcaps, Kansas, Gregg, red, 
Loudon, Turner. Blackberries—Snyder, Early King. 
Grapes—Early Champion, Moore’s Early, Worden. 
Niagara. I do not consider it necessary to plant two of 
a kind; with good care you will have fruit to spare. 
I wonder if we ever stop to think of the real value 
of the work The R. N.-Y. is doing in asking for the 
advice of others? Had I done as J. J. J. has done 10 
years I would have been many a dollar ahead. I have 
always held back in hopes some one else would ask. 
I feel I am duty bound to do anything The R. N.-Y. 
asks of; I am always quoting it, and as a friend said: 
“You seem to swear by The R. N.-Y.” I said I did, 
and was not ashamed of it. I wish every farmer in 
Pike County would take it. They would make more 
money and much easier. a. s. archer. 
With a good location, good soil, good varieties, and 
good treatment, the number of trees and vines named by 
the inquirer should furnish an ample supply of fruit for 
a small family, at from four to six years from planting, 
and a bountiful one, when in full bearing, for a large 
family, if living within the climatic conditions of Illi¬ 
nois. Of the four conditions above named, the selec¬ 
tion of the varieties is, perhaps, of the most importance, 
as no matter how good in quality a variety may be, 
if it does not bear fruit, it is, of course, worthless for 
the purposes of your correspondent. It would be mere 
guesswork on my part to name the varieties for him, 
knowing nothing of the location and soil. The safe 
rule is to plant such varieties as do best in his vicinity, 
and iw^Jiiore profitable work can be done in connection 
with the work of the orchard than to spend a few days 
among the orchards and horticulturists of one’s neigh¬ 
borhood, taking along a full list of varieties of the 
different kinds of fruits proposed to plant and checking 
JOHN It. WILLIAMS. Fig. 273. See Page 653. 
them off as the inquirer goes along. By so doing none 
will be overlooked- nor forgotten. For this purpose I 
give a partial list of such as succeed best here. Apples 
■—Yellow Transparent, Red Astrachan, Benoni, Maiden’s 
Blush, Grimes, Jonathan. Northern Spy, Ben Davis. 
Pear—Sugar, Seckel, Bartlett, Kieffer, Lawrence. Peach 
—Sneed, Champion, Early Crawford, Late Crawford, 
Crosby. Elberta, Smock, Pleath Cling. Plum—Red June, 
Ogon, Abundance, Burbank, Shipper's Pride, Bradshaw, 
Damsons. Cherry—Early Richmond, Montmorency, 
English Morello, Quince, Orange. Grape—Moore’s 
Early, Concord, Worden, Catawba, Diamond. Blackber¬ 
SAMFLE PAGE FROM FARM REPORT. FlG. 274. 
See Page 653. 
ries—Snyder, Lucretia. Raspberries—Gregg, Kansas, 
Cuthbert, Shaffer. In planting the larger fruits it is wise 
to mix the varieties for best possible results in pollina¬ 
tion. The Japan plums should be planted together, as 
they bloom earlier than the European species. The 
small fruits will take care of themselves in that respect. 
Indiana. j. w. trinkle. 
POULTRY AND PIGS. 
How Not To Do It. 
We can often learn valuable lessons by our own and 
others’ mistakes, if they prompt us carefully to avoid 
them in the future. In fact, one of the first things 
needed to be learned in any vocation, trade or pro¬ 
fession, is what not to do. Frail human nature is such 
that when one is starting in on anything new to him, 
it seems almost sure that his first move will be a wrong 
one, even though he may have been previously cautioned 
against those identical mistakes. Somehow previous in¬ 
struction and warning does not always sufficiently im¬ 
press the mind, until personal loss has been suffered 
by not heeding it. Here is a case containing a lesson: 
After working 32 years in a machine shop in the city, 
and getting somewhat along in years, the subject of 
this incident thought he would like a change to the open 
air, and to an occupation that would give him a sure and 
ample support in a less monotonous kind of work- He 
read up on poultry and pigs, and learned of several- 
some whom he knew—who had made a good thing in 
that line, in two or three years, making a net income of 
about $2,500 per year. He thought to go out and buy 
a little place and do likewise. Five miles out of the 
city, in an adjoining town, he bought five acres, having 
a little cottage and barn, for about $1,800. He then 
bought 20 acres adjoining of rough land covered with 
rocks and birch sprouts. He repaired and painted the 
house and barn “as fine as a fiddle,” built a nice hen¬ 
house, 100 or more feet long, clapboarded, papered and 
painted, having wire divisions, and run of the same 
width and 150 feet long for each division inclosed with 
galvanized wire netting. He bought 300 hens, and put 
in the house and yards, hired a young man and his 
wife to care for the hens and occupy the cottage, he 
still living in the city and driving out and back every 
day to look after things. He made a large addition to 
the small stable and stocked it with $200 worth of grain 
for his hens, which were to be increased to 1,000 before 
the year was out. He hired Armenians to dig rocks 
out of the new addition to the five acres, put 40 pigs 
in the cellar of stable, which he fed on the milk 
(probably skimmed) of two cows and swill from the 
city. The swill was collected in large galvanized cov¬ 
ered cylinders by a colored boy, who accompanied the 
man out to the poultry farm every day all Winter, no 
matter how cold or stormy, unless the road was impas¬ 
sably blocked with snow. They passed my place—about 
half way out—usually about 11 A. M. in Winter, and in 
Summer from 9 to 10 A. M. The second Spring an¬ 
other larger henhouse, about 300 feet long, was built, 
and a piggery about 300 feet long, both as nicely built, 
and painted and yarded with wire fence runs, as was 
the first henhouse. About 140 pigs and young hogs were 
bought and put into the new piggery, and several hun¬ 
dred more hens put into the new henhouse. A new 
barn, costing $3,000. with nice deep cellar under the 
whole, was also built, having the name of the farm 
painted across both ends of the barn in letters that 
could be easily read one mile away. In front of the cot¬ 
tage was placed a post bearing the name “F - Poul¬ 
try Farm’’ printed in gold leaf letters. A new well and 
windmill pumped water to all these henhouses and pig¬ 
gery. A fine span of $450 horses made the daily trips 
from the city to the poultry farm. 
Probably all this show, located on a good macadam¬ 
ized State road, where automobiles were whizzing by 
every few minutes, served to establish at once a reputa¬ 
tion for all the fresh eggs his poultry could lay, and 
the writer sometimes had pressing calls to spare enough 
of his hens’ eggs to help him out temporarily on his 
orders. Sometimes I could do it for a day, but usually 
I could not without disappointing the man who took all 
my eggs at my own door. I felt quite an interest— 
not to say solicitude—to see this new enterprise suc¬ 
ceed. But having had about 30 years’ experience with 
poultry myself, which had been fairly successful, and 
two seasons with a few hogs—which were the very re¬ 
verse—I could not help having many misgivings. As 
a gentle caution to what seemed like too hasty a branch¬ 
ing out before having acquired any practical knowledge 
of the business himself I related my own unsuccessful 
attempt at pork raising, and also quoted the late Henry 
Ward Beecher in his experiment as amateur pork rais¬ 
ing. Beecher bought two pigs for $12, fed them $26 
worth of corn and sold the pork for $18. He said he 
“made something on the pigs but rather lost on the 
corn.” But the enthusiasm of this beginner brushed 
away such examples as trivial and entirely inapplicable 
to his case. The example of the one who netted $2,500 
per year in hog raising was the only one to be imitated 
in his case. 
He planned to build a new dwelling at the beginning 
of the next year—“if I don’t go to the poor house”—in¬ 
timating a remote possibility in his thoughts, but by 
no means a probability. The new dwelling was not 
built. But before the cold weather of the second Fall 
the whole enterprise had collapsed and been sold out. 
The $3,000 new barn was empty, except the new carts 
and sleds and wagons in the cellar. The water in the 
new irrigating plant froze up. The piggery and the 
larger henhouse were without pigs or hens. Only a 
few hens were kept in the small house by the impecuni¬ 
ous purchaser, and still so remains. He mortgaged the 
place to a savings bank for money to put up all these 
buildings. The bank refused to loan another dollar on 
the estate. The sales of eggs, poultry and pork did not 
seem to pay for the feed and leave any margin with 
which to enlarge the business. When the stock could 
not be kept up by buying on credit, as before, the busi¬ 
ness had to stop. The neighbors who bought much of 
the stuff at the close-up estimated that he must have 
sunk $5,000 in less than two years instead of making 
a profit of $2,500 yearly, as he fully expected to do 
when he got fairly started. The real trouble was the 
man beginning the enterprise had neither experience nor 
much money. When the experiment closed there were 
two persons who had acquired experience, but neither 
of them had any money, t. h. r. 
Massachusetts. 
