75o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
October 12, 
relying on one little Jersey, or should he have kept two 
or three and thus fortified himself against such a 
calamity as has befallen him? M. j. 
The law concerning adulteration of milk is as strict 
as a Puritan and as severe as a step-mother, so M. J. 
will have to rely on the indulgence of the officers, not 
on the weakness of the statute. Adulterated milk 
means either, 1, containing more than 88 per cent 
water; 2, less than 12 per cent solids; 3, less than three 
per cent fat; 4, from cows fed on distillers’ waste or 
unwholesome feed; 5, where cows are kept in un¬ 
healthy condition or crowded quarters, or 6, having 
any cream removed or water added. In case of trial 
it can be shown that the milk is delivered in its pure 
condition, that the sample tested was not a fair one, 
that it was not an accurate test, that it was not 
analyzed and that the producer sought to enrich the 
quality by the infusion of Jersey milk. The best de¬ 
fence is a good reputation as to character and as to 
quality of milk generally; these things go far with 
the prosecuting officers. The farmer must decide for 
himself how many Jersey cows will be necessary to 
maintain the standard, as some of the other cows may 
be very low in percentage of fat. We will add also 
that the owner of the calf is liable for full amount 
of the fine, provided M. J. can prove that his fence 
is of the legal requirements, and that the loss of the 
Jersey’s milk brought the milk below the standard. 
NEW ENGLAND HILL-TOP ORCHARDS. 
New Value to Old Pastures. 
Part II. 
When this old pasture land is taken in hand for 
improvement the usual idea is that it must be filled 
with vegetable matter at once. The Massachusetts 
Asparagus Growers’ Association wanted such a field 
for experiment purposes. The trees and brush were 
cleared off and the field grubbed and plowed in May. 
Then: 
Two thousand pounds lime, 1,000 pounds fine ground hone, 
350 pounds muriate of potash, 600 pounds acid phosphate, 
and 150 pounds nitrate of soda were applied per acre. The 
land was full of witch or piper grass. It was harrowed 
weekly until July 18, when buckwheat was sown, harrowed 
in and rolled. The buckwheat was partly in seed and three 
and one-half feet tall when it was plowed under. The plot 
was then harrowed several times and sown to rye, which 
was harrowed in and rolled. The rye made a good growth 
and was plowed under in April, 1907, after which the ground 
was harrowed twice, rolled, and then surveyed carefully 
and furrowed. 
That is a sure way of putting such land at work, 
but Hale doesn’t wait a year, or bother with vegetable 
matter. On the field that was cleared four years ago 
apple trees were planted a short time after the burn¬ 
ing. The ground was accurately measured and marked 
16 feet each way. Many of the holes for planting 
apple trees were blown out by using a small charge of 
dynamite. Hale prunes the trees back both root and 
top, nearly as close as Mr. Stringfellow recommends, 
but he, apparently, does not believe in small-hole plant¬ 
ing. Through the Fall and early Winter as far as pos¬ 
sible work was done at clearing up—which means 
grubbing out and burning small stumps and getting 
out rocks. In the Spring peach trees were planted 
around the apples—filling the orchard. As I under¬ 
stand it Mr. Hale’s first plan was a sort of combina- 
t'on grub hoe and mulch culture—with hand work 
around the trees. Louis Pero, Mr. Hale’s Italian fore¬ 
man, took charge of this work, but the hand work was 
too slow and plows were started. It was rough work 
among the rocks and stumps, and after breaking about 
$300 worth of tools Mr. Hale says he hesitated. Then 
Pero produced the following convincing argument: 
“No breaka plozu, manufacturer no sella plow! No 
sella plow no buya da peach!” There is no flaw in 
that logic, and the plow-breaking and soil-breaking 
went on. After four years of this work the smaller 
stumps and most of the rocks have been removed. The 
larger stumps are still in the soil among the fruit trees, 
and will be left to rot out. Part of the land has been 
so well cleared.that it was possible to sow Cow-horn 
turnips and Crimson clover this year. If there ever 
was a firm advocate of thorough culture Louis Pero 
is the man. And he gets results. As a little side line 
he had some 500 tomato plants trained to single stems 
on high poles. If a seedsman were to take one of 
those vines and print an exact picture of it in colors 
few people would believe when he said it was true to 
nature. Night soil, thorough culture and brains were 
responsible for Pero’s tomatoes. Mr. Hale told Pero 
that I was a “mulcher,” didn’t work the ground at 
all, but just piled weeds and grass around the trees. 
Did you ever see a man talk with his hands and 
shoulders? Pero did—he spread out his hands and 
shrugged his shoulders in one long gesture which said 
more than some horticultural speakers will say in an 
hour’s talk. 
Hale figures that his clearing the land supplies 
“thorough culture” for at least three years, and no 
fertilizers were used during that time. The theory 
seems to be the soil is naturally strong enough to grow 
the tree to bearing age, after which it will need fertil¬ 
izers for plant food and cover crops to supply vegetable 
matter. The result of three years’ work is an orchard 
of low-down stocky peach trees forking at the surface 
of the ground or just above it. They seem more like 
bushes than trees, but to my mind this low, bushy top 
is the ideal shape for fruit growing. I have an orchard 
of 400 trees in sod which have never been trimmed or 
cultivated. They will average, I think, about the same 
size as these of Hale’s, but are of an entirely different 
shape. I find that letting them go untrimmed means 
a long, slender top with few inside branches. It would 
be hard to find a deeper color than these little trees of 
Hale’s show. The apple trees did not look so well, 
and I was more than ever convinced of the mistake 
of planting the two kinds of fruit together. 
h. w. c. 
FALL-SOWN CABBAGE AND CAULIFLOWER; 
RASPBERRIES. 
1. I am going to start young cabbage and cauliflower 
plants this Fall and set them in cool frames where they will 
remain all Winter. My intention is to sow the seeds in 
FRAME G X 6 Ft. 
the open ground about tnc last week In September and let 
them grow for 30 or 35 days in the open ground and then 
transplant them to the cool frame. Should I set them one 
inch apart each way, or should they be set farther apart? 
IIow large a frame should I build to hold 4,000 or 5,000 
cabbage plants, and as many cauliflowers? I expect to 
build my cool frame on a offset in a hill; it faces the south¬ 
east and the sun shines on the place nearly all day. It is 
very steep where I wish to build the frame and dry. I plan 
to cover with glazed sash, and to put some kind of straw 
and then bank dirt on top of the straw all around the out¬ 
side of it. Would old sacks ripped in two and sewn to¬ 
gether with a foot or 18 inches of straw between them do 
for a cover to put on the glass in cold weather? Would 
sashes that hold six and nine lights of glass eight by 10 
do? I want to have the plants ready to set out in the 
open ground by the first or second week in April. Would 
frost that freezes a crust on the ground a fourth of an inch 
deep kill the plants after they are set out in the open 
ground? Please name two early varieties of cabbage and 
cauliflower you would use to plant this way. Will cauli¬ 
flower stand as much frost as cabbage? My intentions are 
to have cabbage and cauliflower to sell by the last of May 
and in June. Should the cauliflower be planted in the same 
PACKING PLUMS IN MONTANA. Fig. 367. 
frame as the cabbage? 2. We have a raspberry patch that 
was set out in 1965 (in the Spring) of about 400 plants 
of Cuthbert and several other varieties. They have never 
borne any fruit to amount to much. The ground was very 
poor where we set them out. We manured the ground and 
then plowed it under and worked the ground several times, 
and then set the plants and worked them often with the 
cultivator. Last Fall we mulched them with buckwheat 
straw after we had worked them several times with the 
horse and cultivator. This Summer they had some berries; 
they were nice and large; most of them are sending up 
many shoots this Summer. There is much sorrel growing in 
the patch. Does it need liming? If so, after working them 
two or three times, should we take lime and scatter it be¬ 
tween the rows thin or very thick and then work the patch 
three or four times to get the lime well worked in around 
the roots of the plants? Should they bear well the next 
year if they do not freeze out too much? They face the 
south; the ground is a sandy loam. n. c. f. 
Clearfield, Pa. 
The method of raising early cabbage and cauliflower 
plants for Spring setting is to sow the seed in the 
open ground about September 20 and transplant about 
2x2 inches apart in cold frames. As soon as the 
plants can be handled, usually in about four to five 
weeks after sowing, the frames should be shaded dur¬ 
ing the day for two or three days that they may easier 
overcome the shock of transplanting. Care must be 
taken that not too much water is given, as it is liable 
to cause rot, especially if the sash is kept too close. 
After the plants are well established the sash can be 
removed during the day and only closed at night, when 
there is likely to be a hard frost or heavy rain. T he 
sash usually used for cold frames or hotbeds arc 
3x6 feet, holding 650 plants 2x2 inches apart. Thus 
it will require a frame six feet wide by 18 feet long 
for 4,000 plants. Straw mats are the most serviceable 
for covering sash. The mats are very easily made by 
making a square frame 6x6 (size of two sash) ; 
across this frame marline or lath ties are fastened 
about one foot apart across one way; then take a small 
handful of rye or wheat straw, laying the butts out,, 
from the center. With another piece of marline 
fastened to the edge of frame, pass marline over the 
straw with a half hitch around the aforesaid warp, and 
drawn tight; continue the process until the frame is cov¬ 
ered. See Fig. 366. Mats can be made of bran sacks, with 
a filling of straw, but arc not so serviceable, as they soon 
rot. On the approach of very cold weather the mats 
can be put on and the whole covered with boards to 
shed the rain better. On the approach of Spring the 
covering should be taken off, and the sash entirely 
removed on warm days. Care should be taken not to 
draw the plants by leaving the sash on during sun¬ 
shine. The above method is not so much in favor as 
it was 20 years ago. Most gardeners sow cabbage 
and cauliflower seed in hotbeds in February, and then 
transplant to other hotbeds or cold frames in March. 
The varieties usually used are Snowball cauliflower, 
and Early Jersey Wakefield cabbage. Cauliflower and 
cabbage may be sown in the same frame and handled 
in the same way as cabbage. 
Regarding the raspberry question, it is possible that 
the soil is sour. I would suggest that a liberal quantity 
of wood ashes scattered around each hill or row and well 
worked in will increase the productiveness. Do not 
permit more than four shoots or canes to grow from 
each hill. Mulch the plants during the Winter with 
manure. Work in the ashes this Fall. 
JOHN JEANNIN, JR. 
DRY SAND FOR CONCRETE MAKING. 
Recently we had an experience with cement and dry 
sand which was accidental, but carried a lesson which 
I had not considered before, although it may be well 
understood with some concrete workers. The exceed¬ 
ingly dry weather had made the sand perfectly dry to 
the touch, and the mixing appeared to take place much 
more quickly and readily than with sand containing the 
usual percentage of water, and so instead of 1-2 for 
surface finish, we used 1-314. The result is a block 
apparently as hard and tough as with the richer mix¬ 
ture. It is a well-known fact that theoretically perfect 
mixing never takes place. There is surely a limit to 
which one can go where expense of labor would ex¬ 
ceed saving of cement. But this question of dry sand 
if I am right could often be advantageously used by 
hauling long before use and protecting from rain. A 
barrel of cement will make of ordinary floors or walks 
in farm practice from 50 to 75 square feet; it will 
therefore be apparent that a saving of 10 per cent to 
20 per cent is possible if the full force of the cement 
can be brought- out. h. e. cook. 
WITCH GRASS AND CABBAGE CULTURE. 
My experience with witch grass coincides with that 
of Mr. Moore, page 650, as he says “witch grass will 
not grow when completely overshadowed.” About 
eight years ago I had a piece of witch grass sod which 
I do not think could possibly have been any worse. I 
plowed it fairly early and harrowed it thoroughly at 
intervals until the middle of June, when 1 marked it 
30 inches apart each way, put a tablespoonful of high- 
grade fertilizer in each hill, went through with the 
marker again to mix the fertilizer with the soil, and 
set large-sized plants of Succession cabbage. I started 
the cultivator the next day with a new set of sharp 
teeth, and kept it going. When the cabbage roots 
began to reach out I put a handful of fertilizer around 
each plant; cultivated (shallower and gradually nar¬ 
rower) as long as I could get through, which was not 
long, and the result was I “done up” the witch grass 
in one season, and raised a profitable crop at the same 
time, as the cabbages were immense. At the time the 
plants were set the grass showed up quite green in 
spite of my harrowing, and perhaps would have beaten 
me out but for the cabbages. Since that year there has 
never been a vestige of witch grass in that field. I 
have always raised my cabbages, early and late, in 
the above manner for the last 15 years and have never 
failed of having satisfactory and profitable crops. I 
have a transplanting machine, but do not use it. 
No. Rose, N. Y. i. g. g. 
The powers that pray generally win if they keep at It. 
In New Hampshire gray squirrels are absolutely pro¬ 
tected by law until 1913. and deer may be hunted only with 
shot guns. Pennsylvania will give the game a better 
chance by prohibiting the use of automatic guns. 
