1907. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
79 
PENNSYLVANIA APPLE GROWER TALKS. 
The Story of an Orchard. 
PART I. 
To succeed in apple growing in this age, confronted 
as we are by numerous pests—such as San Jose scale 
and other scale insects in addition to the Codling moth 
and numerous species of destructive caterpillers, bitter 
rot, scab and other fungus diseases—is no more the 
easy task of 20 or 30 years ago. With all the industry 
and energy the grower can command, he will need to 
study the philosophy of tree growth as it applies to the 
apple. If to fill the market basket is his object and 
profit his aim, he must adopt as his motto, “The great¬ 
est possible amount of salable fruit at the earliest pos¬ 
sible period after the setting of the orchard,” and then 
proceed to its accomplishment, not by an attempt to 
reverse the process of nature, but by studying nature’s 
demands and thus render the necessary aid by proper 
preparation of the ground, by careful setting, sufficient 
fertilization and yearly cultivation up to and several 
years beyond the period of profitable bearing. Rich 
sod ground, such as would yield a full crop of corn, 
should be cbosen and deeply plowed in the Fall, and 
the lines where the trees wilj set thoroughly pulverized 
with harrow or cultivator. The young trees may be 
set either in Fall or Spring. If digging the holes be 
deemed too laborious a plow may be used to open a 
furrow of double width and double depth, into which 
by use of guides in the other direction the trees may 
be set. After the roots arc well covered with earth and 
tramped solid, the furrow may be closed by a round 
with the plow. To get as many in an acre as possible 
and yet have room for spraying 
apparatus when the trees attain 
full size I would set them 26x33 
feet, which will allow about 50 
to the acre, and give room for 
spraying operations in the wider 
space. The first year’s growth 
from the nursery is usually a 
straight switch about live' feet 
high; the second year eight or 
nine lateral branches will pro¬ 
ject within 18 inches from the 
top. This two-year-old tree is 
the kind to deal with, because it 
will fruit earlier than the year¬ 
ling. The lower side branches 
arc usually weaklings, and 
should be severed at the trunk. 
From five to seven of the more 
thrifty ones should be cut back 
to two or three buds, including 
the main stem. 
Some advocate cutting the 
tree off 2J4 feet from the 
ground below the branches, and 
thus by a violation of nature’s 
process force limbs from dor¬ 
mant buds, and as a result defer 
the bearing a year or two longer, 
besides providing a spurious 
foundation for the future limb 
structure. By cutting the lateral 
twigs at two years old from the 
nursery to two or three buds a gnarly base is furnished 
for the top structure. From these, not forced, but nat¬ 
ural buds, will issue sufficient branches from which to 
regulate the future apple-producing structure. Exper¬ 
ience proves that the apple or any other tree will de¬ 
velop in trunk in proportion to the limb and foliage it' 
displays. This point is of special importance in further¬ 
ing the prospect for early and profitable bearing. Up 
to four or five years after planting I permit the growth 
of nearly all branches that will put forth, withholding 
the knife and clippers almost entirely; this treatment 
will insure the speedy development of the trunk and 
every other part of the tree, and lay the foundation 
for earlier fruiting. When the young tree is imme¬ 
diately divested of all growth except what is to con¬ 
stitute the future permanent limb structure those re¬ 
maining will grow long and slender and in both trunk 
and limb the tree will be less stout and strong. But 
now, after nature will have furnished a thick structure 
as a basis for the shaping of the future tree, is the time 
when judicious pruning must begin, and only good judg¬ 
ment and trained eye are sufficient for the task; for 
at this stage there will be many more branches than 
can be allowed, but a wholesale cutting out must be 
scrupulously avoided. The first year only the weak¬ 
lings, and thus for four or five years the work of grad¬ 
ual thinning and adjustment of the future top is ac¬ 
complished, when the time for regular bearing is 
reached at 8 or 10 years, according to variety. No 
severe priming should be done in any one season, and 
very little after the full bearing sets in; for at this 
point the top formation should be in the main complete; 
yet a yearly inspection by the orchardist is necessary 
for three or four years longer. A profuse cutting out 
in any one season will cause the putting forth pf sg^ 
called water sprouts, or waste of energy, which may 
be largely prevented by a gradual reduction from year 
to year until the uniform well-balanced top structure 
will stand out with sure promise of yielding abundant 
crops of apples. 
Getting the apple tree ready for bearing is the work 
of the first eight years. If the work of this period is 
well done a profitable outcome will be assured for the 
next 18 years, not forgetting that from the start at 
planting cultivation must not be neglected. Starting 
with a surface clear of sod, none should be permitted to 
grow within five or six feet of the tree row; only sur¬ 
face tools, such as the common shovel plow or half 
section of spring harrow under control of a careful man 
will be necessary, with a chain or rod three feet long 
from implement to single-tree, which should be a short 
one, well wrapped about the end next to the tree and 
well up the trace to prevent rubbing. The centers may 
be devoted to five or six rows of corn or potatoes the 
first six to eight years; nothing should be planted within 
five or six feet of the trees, but the space should be cul¬ 
tivated till in July. No bar-shear plow or deep-cutting 
implement should be allowed near the trees. In the 
meantime fertilization must not be neglected. Up to 
bearing age good barnyard manure will furnish the 
'humus and necessary fertility, but when bearing sets 
in there miwt be a supplementing with potash if abund¬ 
ant and well-ripened crops are to be secured, and to 
secure early and constant profit in the face of the 
drawbacks which threaten the grower is the great 
desideratum of to-day. 
I have an orchard of 400 bearing trees; 350 of them 
are 15 years old, 50 of them range from 10 to 13 years 
old. At eight years they bore several hundred bushels, 
which were destroyed by hail. At nine years they 
bloomed, but were frost-killed. At 10 years they bore 
1,130 bushels, nearly all fit for barreling. At 11 years 
there were 925 bushels; at 12 years the crop measured 
2,215 bushels; at 13 years there were 1,900; at 14 years 
2,660 bushels were taken out and at 15 years old, the 
present season, 3,500 bushels were produced, altogether 
in six successive seasons 12,500 bushels. Among the lot 
arc 40 trees that bore sparingly and contributed very 
little to the aggregate. If the entire lot had been made 
up of Baldwins, York Imperial, Grimes Golden and Ben 
Davis, the aggregate would have 20,000 instead of 12,- 
500. The product of the 12 Grimes Golden in the six 
successive years has reached 790 bushels of fine apples. 
The 22 Ben Davis have done as well in quantity, but have 
produced more wormy and defective apples. The Yorks 
and Baldwins bear every other year, but arc heavy 
yieldcrs. A number of the Yorks last season and of 
the Baldwins this season bore as many as 30 bushels to 
the tree. The trees are all vigorous growers, large in 
top, with limbs extending 16 feet, making a circum¬ 
ference of 100. They have been neither starved nor 
crippled, but were well fed wit’ll dressing from the stable 
yard, and in the last eight years 30 tons of unleached 
wood ashes have been applied as a top-dressing, also 
several tons of kainit. henry omwake. 
SUGAR BEETS IN CENTRAL NEW YORK. 
The making of beet sugar at Lyons, the county seat 
of Wayne Co., has become a prosperous and important 
factor in the agricultural industries of central New 
York. The sugar making season usually is of only 
four months’ duration, from October to February, and 
sometimes includes a portion of February, and in this 
time about 5,500 tons of the very best quality of gran¬ 
ulated sugar are made, and employment given to about 
300 persons. Sugar beets can be grown on any soil 
that will produce good corn, but a sandy loam, well 
enriched, will yield beets much richer in sugar than 
when grown on clay or muck. The number of tons 
on an acre will vary, of course, like any other crop on 
the farm, as so much depends on the soil and cultiva¬ 
tion. With the best of conditions in soil and care, 24 
tons have been grown on one acre, and yet, some 
farmers or growers who arc of the kind that want 
“a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the 
hands,” will be content with a crop of only eight or 
10 tons. Beets from this factory were until recently 
grown in the counties adjoining Wayne, but the in¬ 
dustry has been so extended in 1906 as to include over 
24 counties, thus giving a large number of farmers 
with land suited to the culture of the sugar beet op¬ 
portunity to raise a profitable crop. 
. rhe beets are usually sold at $5 a ton delivered on 
cars nearest the station where grown. Now suppose 
we “split the difference” and call the yield an average 
of 15 tons an acre and we have at $5 a ton an income 
of $75 an acre, which is a little more comforting than 
20 bushels of wheat at $1 a bushel. From 280 to 320 
pounds of white, granulated sugar are produced from 
one ton of beets, the variation depending on the soil, 
season and cultivation. The company at Lyons will 
supply laborers to farmers who grow five acres or 
more, to thin the beets in early growth, and for pull¬ 
ing and topping in the Fall. They will also advance 
money to pay laborers, charging it against the crop. 
In this way they furnish employment to about 1,000 
persons. The time to put in the 
seed extends from April to 
June, and the plants are thinned 
so as to be from eight to 12 
inches apart and the rows to be 
from 20 to 28 inches. The beets 
require about five months to ma¬ 
ture, and arc not injured for the 
making of sugar by being frozen. 
The residue or pulp was for¬ 
merly sold to dairymen as it came 
from the press, and being damp 
and often transported as far as 
to the valley of the Hudson, be¬ 
came frozen, unpleasant to han¬ 
dle and made a cold breakfast 
for the cows; but it is now thor¬ 
oughly dried at the factory be¬ 
fore being shipped, making much 
less in bulk, more easily handled, 
better relished by cattle and still 
rich in the qualities that make 
delicious milk and yellow butter. 
Lastly, but not least, is the im¬ 
portant fact that beets, unlike 
cabbage and wheat—now so ex¬ 
tensively grown in central New 
York—• have no destructive in¬ 
sects to contend with, and to¬ 
gether with the fact of the sell¬ 
ing price being guaranteed in ad¬ 
vance, and the employees being 
furnished, there seems to be no 
crop on the farm with proper soil, that offers better 
inducements, richer rewards, than the growing of sugar 
beets. _c., f. barrer. 
FIGHTING THE CANADA THISTLE. 
I lie thistle is one of those perennials that propagate 
both by their seeds and roots. Its seeds arc provided by 
nature with downy wings to convey it to a congenial 
soil. ! lie soil best suited to its wants is found at the 
base of hills or near water courses, or lands that arc 
naturally moist. 'I hat being file case it makes it more 
difficult to destroy, because such soils cannot be worked 
at all times during the growing season. If it were pos¬ 
sible to work the soil at all times during the growing 
season we could destroy the young seedlings by fre¬ 
quent hoeing or cultivating. Thus we cannot expect to 
combat’ this weed if mature plants arc permitted to 
produce seed. Soils so infested should be mowed sev¬ 
eral times during the growing season, each time before 
the flower heads show their color. It is at this time 
that’ the plant is making its greatest effort to reproduce 
its kind by its seed. 1 he shock which it receives at 
this cutting greatly weakens its roots. If the cutting has 
been neglected until the seed has formed the roofs will 
have performed its mission and its vigor is such that 
it will produce more shoots from the latent buds on 
its root stalk, which in turn will produce a late crop of 
seed. Thus t’he necessity of frequent cutting. If we 
have been persistent in our work of cutting, and not 
allowed a plant to produce seed we have gained two 
points toward its destruction, viz.: preventing its spread 
by its seed and weakening its roots by t’heir successive 
efforts to produce their seed stalk. If after frost has 
made the last’ cutting of the enfeebled plants we can 
plow the soil deep, thus turning up the roots to the 
action of frost and thaw, we will have tin battle half 
won. A hoed crop the following Spring, with the same 
persistent care to prevent plants from making a growth 
and producing seed, will go far towards destroying this 
most noxious weed. It may be necessary to expose 
the roots to the frost another Winter to eradicate the 
few stragglers tjiat remain, john jeannin, jr, 
FREESIA PURITY. NATURAL SIZE. Fig. 34. Sec Ruralisms, Page 88. 
