838 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
November 16 , 
sent those found in average orchards. They found 
both in the orchard of W. A. Auchter, of South Greece. 
Mr. Auchter bought this orchard several years before it 
was taken by the Station. It was in sod when he 
bought it, and so nearly worthless for producing good 
fruit that the owners contemplated cutting it down. I 
saw a number of orchards which, I assume, were in 
much the same condition. They were in sod—that is, 
there was a fair growth of grass and weeds among 
ihe trees. The foliage was light green, or nearly yel¬ 
low—that sickly color which fruit growers know so 
well. There seemed to Ire only an inch or a little more 
of new wood. The apples, though very highly colored, 
were small, and the fruit huds seemed small and fee¬ 
ble. Mr. Auchter took the orchard while in about this 
condition and brought it to a high bearing capacity by 
good tillage and Soy beans as a cover crop. In this 
condition the Station took it for an experiment. One- 
half was given thorough culture of plowing and careful 
harrowing and rolling, followed by a clover crop. The 
other half was left in sod. The grass was cut with 
a mower and left to rot upon the ground. In other 
respects the spraying, pruning, etc., were the same on 
both halves of the field. Now here seemed a square 
chance to test the relative merits of sod vs. culture, for 
any difference in tree or crop would naturally be due to 
the difference in handling. This difference in the trees 
was evident to me before I got within half a mile of 
the orchard. But we will see about that later. 
h. w. c 
THE ROUGH PLACES ARE MADE SMOOTH. 
Just how had are those fields where Hale is starting 
his orchards? 
Several people having asked that question, we show 
pictures of the land. It appears that Hale has the 
habit of warming a stone wall. In the picture, big. 
411 , he is sitting near where the Connecticut Porno- 
logical meeting was held. Some of the larger trees, 
like the big chestnut shown in Fig. 412 (this one is 26 
feet around) will be saved, but under Hale’s plan, 
such trees as you see in the foreground are burned. 
Let a farmer on the western prairie take a look at 
the hillside pictured at Fig. 413, and think how he 
would like to clear it! We are glad to have western 
boys see what the Yankees are willing to do, in order 
to make a profitable business at home. Hale will haul 
out and pull away all those rocks. It may not be 
done all at once, but before the job is done, that hill 
will be smooth enough to mow. You must understand 
that when an acre of this land is ready it will have 
cost as much as the strong, high-priced land in the 
West, while as orchard land it will give much larger 
returns. Even in grass or corn these cleared lands will 
probably pay a greater profit than the western lands 
because the prices obtained for the crop will be much 
higher. Mr. Hale does not like the criticism of his 
apple trees. He says: 
1 think yon are entirely mistaken when you think that a 
sood apple orchard cannot be built up with peaches planted 
in between, and think I will demonstrate it to you in a few 
years. In fact, the trees in the young orchard show just 
what is coming. The other orchard, up through the woods, 
which you criticise, is 'way off, and I know it, hut the apple 
planting there was an afterthought, two years after the 
peach trees had started, and I was too stingy or did not have 
the moral courage to pull up every fourth peach tree and 
plant apple in their place, so I just stuck the apples in 
between, and consequently they have been grown and boosted 
up too high by the peach trees. I know they will never 
make as perfect and satisfactory an orchard; still when the 
peach trees are out of the way I am confident I can lick them 
into a good deal better shape than you now think possible. 
The three-year-old apple trees which were planted 
as fillers in the peach orchard certainly do look better 
than the others. Judging from what I have seen in 
other orchards, I think the peach trees as they grow 
larger will drive the apple trees out of shape. 
A reader in West Virginia wants to know how much 
seed Hale uses in his combination of cow peas, tur¬ 
nips and Crimson clover. Hale replies as follows: 
My cow pea, clover and turnip combination was a half 
bushel of cow peas, 12 pounds clover seed and one pound of 
turnip seed per acre. In the later sowing, where the cow 
peas were left out, 15 pounds of clover and a pound of 
turnip seed was used. Any more turnips than that would be 
likely to furnish too much shade, and crowd out the clover, 
and I am inclined to think that three-fourths of a pound 
would be even better than a pound. 
The cow pea seed was put in with a disk harrow. It 
is better especially in a dry season to put them in 
deep. The turnips and clover were harrowed in. Of 
course, the reader will understand that at a hard frost 
the cow pea vines die, while the clover and turnips 
keep on growing. The cow peas give some protection 
through the Winter. Some of the turnips will start 
again in the Spring, but most of them are killed by 
Winter. The critical time with the clover is in March. 
h. w. c. 
We are often asked about pouring a thin concrete around 
fence posts when they are sat in the holes. The object is 
to preserve the wood and hold the post firmly. The objection 
to this practice is the expense. For corner posts or gate 
posts it would probably pay—otherwise we doubt it. 
APPLES AND APPLE SOILS. 
A recent writer on apples says that “the Newtown 
(Albemarle) Pippin usually does not do well except at 
a high elevation, in rich, cool coves with a northern 
exposure.” I studied the Albemarle pippin when liv¬ 
ing in Albemarle County, Va. Its success there is 
due, not to elevation at all, but to soil conditions that 
are usually found in the elevated mountain coves in 
that section. In fact, too high an elevation, an eleva¬ 
tion above the line of perennial springs on the moun¬ 
tains, means utter failure. This apple succeeds in the 
coves because there the conditions that all apples need 
are to be found. These are a rich soil, abounding in 
humus, perennially moist but well drained. The springs 
breaking out on the mountain sides keep the soil moist, 
and the rocky debris underlaying and mixed with a 
soil largely composed of the decayed leaves from the 
mountain forests above, make conditions in which 
not only the Pippin, but any other apples, thrives best. 
But plant the Pippin on the mountain sides above 
where these conditions exist, and the apple fails. 1 he 
Pippin fails in the red clay soil of the general valley, 
because these soils are deficient in humus, and bake 
hard in Summer, so that the moisture conditions do 
not suit it. The northern exposure is better for ap¬ 
ples of any sort, and with similar conditions as to soil, 
the coves on the main Blue Ridge, opening to the south, 
do not grow as fine apples as open to the north. This 
is due to the drying of the soil by exposure to the 
sun, and also to the bringing out of the bloom in 
Spring at an unseasonable time, thus making the crop 
more uncertain. I am sure that if the soil and soil- 
moisture conditions could be had as perfectly in the 
general valleys as in the elevated coves, the Albemarle 
Pippin would thrive there, too, espcially as in these 
days we can control the fungus that in low situations 
is apt to make the apples “mossy,” as it is called. The 
moisture conditions and rich soil can be had in the 
bottom lands along the streams, but there, too, the 
frost conditions would prevail. I have grown the 
Newtown Pippin with success on land near the shores 
of the Chesapeake, but a few feet above tide water, 
AN AMERICAN MERINO. Fig. 415. 
and had apples as fine as anywhere, but the soil con¬ 
ditions were all right. 
As to the identity of the Albemarle Pippin and the 
Yellow Newtown I have never been satisfied. I have 
seen apples in Albemarle County on trees from the 
northern nurseries of the Yellow Newtown Pippin, and 
they are still not the true Albemarle apples. Whether 
originally identical or not, the apple as it has long 
been grown in Albemarle and the adjoining counties, 
has developed characteristics, that make it different and 
better than the Yellow Newtown of the North, and I 
believe that the growers of Albemarle should stick to 
the old stock. They have an apple there, very similar 
to the Northern Spy, known locally as the Pilot. This 
apple thrives in the red clay, and is an unright and 
rapid grower, but, like the Northern Spy, is a long 
time getting into bearing. I believe that if the Pippin 
was top-worked oh this stock the trees might thrive 
where they do not now. But the fact that the Pippin 
thrives best in the cool, moist cove soil is a lesson for 
the growing of apples of all sorts, for any apple will 
do better under the same conditions. In the south¬ 
ern apple belt I am sure that the mulch method would 
be better for any apple, and that the increase in humus 
brought about by the plowing under of legume cover 
crops, during the early days at least of the orchard, 
would favor the development of the trees, and tend to 
bring about conditions that naturally exist in the coves. 
W. F. MASSEY. 
WAS THE ANT HILL RESPONSIBLE? 
Last Winter was with us a very peculiar one, ground 
dry and weather mild. On coldest day ice was about 
one-third of an inch thick. Trees and vines were prac¬ 
tically in sap the Winter through, more or less. When 
trimming grapevines the first week in February, I 
found new growth two inches long. The condition of 
ground (dry) is all that prevented trees from bloom¬ 
ing out full in midwinter. When Spring finally opened, 
trees and vines seemed so enfeebled that scarcely any 
blossoms would stick, hence there were no peaches, 
and but few pears and grapes. This was the general 
condition on our place, with but two decided excep¬ 
tions. There was one peach tree (seedling) and two 
Carman grapevines that bore full crops, and in each 
case there was the benefit of an ant bed close by. Had 
all the rest not been such a signal failure, I would not 
be so much surprised. The peach tree is one out of 
about 300 surrounding it, of same age, on same kind 
of land. It is a cross between Elberta and Bell, but is 
a cling and ripens midway between the two. It is 
large, fine color and quality, and its bearing, when 
everything else failed, made me almost dream of bo¬ 
nanzas. There was no difference between location and 
condition of this.tree and the rest, only that it has a big 
ant bed close by. As stated above, the grape crop was 
near about a failure also. The vines put out very 
feebly in Spring, bore but little and have not much re¬ 
covered up to this day. This, with the exception of 
but two vines, that have a big ant bed right between 
them. 
They came out vigorously, set and matured a fine 
crop, made an excellent growth, and even bore quite 
a second crop on the lateral growth. Does not this 
indicate that the much despised red ant has been 
caught performing some good? In what way now, is 
the question. Is it possible for us to draw a lesson 
from this? The only theory I can advance is, that 
the ants working the soil to a great depth, and destroy¬ 
ing all vegetation about their dens at the surface, gave 
an additional amount of moisture other plants did not 
have, and which may have made the difference in a very 
dry season. However, it cannot be taken as an argu¬ 
ment in favor of clean and persistent cultivation, be¬ 
cause orchards in our latitude kept clean fared as a 
rule no better than others in grass. I should be 
pleased to hear from some of your southern readers, if 
they have ever observed anything similar as regards a 
possible benefit of ants among trees and vines. . Both 
orchard and vineyard had been fairly well cultivated 
and cared for. J- w. stubenrauch. 
Texas. ___ 
HANDLING SEED CORN.—I always select seed 
corn in the Fall, as the corn is being put in the crib. 
I pick out the well-filied-out, deep-grained, vigorous 
looking ears, always paying more attention to form of 
ear than size. I have never considered the stalk, in 
picking out seed, although I firmly believe the corn 
crop could be very materially increased by. going 
through the fields at tasseling time and removing the 
tassels from the barren stalks. With regards to stor¬ 
ing, the ears are immediately stored on boards that 
are' nailed on the under side of the beams overhead in 
the wagon house, a place where the air can get at 
them from all sides, which is the all important factor in 
storing seed corn successfully. As I write, I have, ly¬ 
ing on my desk, four ears of corn, shucked yester¬ 
day, the aggregate weight of which is &]/ 2 pounds, the 
largest one weighing iust 31 ounces, the smallest 22 
ounces WATSON A. CONOVER. 
Monmouth Co., N. J._ 
POISON IVY.—I see cn page 716 A. O. Gildersleeve says 
that to he Immune from the effect of poison Ivy one should 
chew some of the leaves. Now to all that are tempted to 
try it I say don’t. I have in my mind two cases where that 
scheme was tried with very had results. One man in a 
spirit of smartness chewed a leaf of ivy: result, he lost two 
weeks’ time in haying at $2.50 per day, besides intense 
suffering. He could not eat anything hut liquid food for 
10 days. The other, a man of sound sense who was immune 
to the poison of ivy, in a heedless moment chewed a leaf. 
That night when he went home he kissed his wife and babv 
hoy: result, the wife and bahy had a very serious attack of 
ivy poison. I find that a solution of copperas and water is 
the best thing that I can use. I have had my wrists and 
arms all raw, and so painful that I could not sleep nights, 
cured with three applications. «• M. w. 
New Hampshire. 
