854 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
November 23. 
tion; but not so the city man of middle age. As to 
“slavish toil on the farm,” I know there are some farm¬ 
ers who make slaves of themselves, but it is not neces¬ 
sary; in my own case I have always hired the plowing 
and harrowing done, also the cutting of the year’s 
fuel, and have sometimes hired the hay cut, made and 
put in the barn, without touching it myself, and have 
THE WHITE WYANDOTTES’ THANKSGIVING. Flu. 423 
always had the hardest work done by hired labor; the 
farm itself producing the income to pay for it. But 
I cannot close this article without a tribute to that 
“power behind the throne,” whose wise counsels and 
efficient help have contributed so much to our success. 
GEORGE A. COSGROVE. 
APPLE CULTURE IN WESTERN NEW YORK. 
CULTIVATION OR MULCH ? 
An Important Experiment. 
Part II. 
“There is the orchard!” said Prof. Hedrick, as we 
turned a corner of the road. He pointed across the 
level valley to a clump of trees, some half a mile away. 
It was a clear day, and shades of color were very dis¬ 
tinct. The orchard is oblong in shape, and is divided 
the long way by the experiment. As seen from our 
first observation it seemed as if Nature had taken a 
brush dipped in dark green, painted one whole side of 
the orchard, and then put on a shining varnish. On 
the other side it seemed as if she had taken a tint 
which comes just where green shades into yellow and 
daubed it over the trees. Then it appeared as if she 
had gone back with her green paint and repainted all 
of one end and a number of trees here and there at 
one side. 
What made the fine foliage on those green trees? 
Cultivation! 
“And what makes those dark green trees among 
the yellow ones ?” 
“We will show you that later!” 
At the orchard I must admit that the difference was 
very striking. There could be no doubt that the sod 
or mulch method had been faithfully carried out. It 
was evident that there had been a heavy growth of 
grass which had been cut and left on the ground to 
decay. Nothing had been taken away, and yet the 
MAY THERE BE MANY IN THE HILL. Fig. 424. 
foliage on most of the trees was yellow and sickly, and 
in many cases there was barely an inch of new 
growth. The trees, or many of them, were fairly well 
set with apples, but the fruit was small, though very 
high in color. Much of it was too small to sell in 
an ordinary season. In one of my own orchards at 
home we took a good crop of hay this year, putting 
back nothing but chemical fertilizers. This orchard 
has been in sod for six years, and this year gave a 
large crop of large fine apples, having now just as dark 
green foliage as that on the cultivated part of Mr. 
Auchter’s orchard. I was therefore more than aston¬ 
ished at the poor appearance of those sod trees where 
all the grass was left on the ground. 
The cultivated part of this orchard presented a strik¬ 
ing contrast. The trees were thrifty and green. There 
was six inches or more of clean new wood, and the 
apples hung in long ropes. They were lighter in color 
than those on the mulched part of the orchard, but on 
the average, nearly twice as large, although most ap¬ 
ples in western New York seemed smaller than usual 
this year. The soil around these cultivated trees showed 
evidence of good tillage. I found that the orchard was 
plowed this year, June 4-7. It was at once harrowed 
with the spring-tooth and packed with a roller. It was 
thoroughly harrowed again with the spring-tooth on 
June 22j July 1!) and August 2, and then seeded to 
clover. The labor required to plow, harrow four 
times and roll once is to be compared with mowing once 
on the other part of the orchard. 
In appearance of both trees and fruit there could be 
no question about the great contrast in favor of the 
cultivated side. Without question these trees in sod 
are losing ground, and from the new wood on them 
and their general appearance, I believe that next year’s 
showing will be even worse. Many of my own trees 
in sod with part of the grass taken out and fertilizer 
added have certainly gained in appearance and in crop. 
At first thought it would seem as if this excellent ex¬ 
periment would not settle this apparent contradiction, 
yet I think we shall find that it does. 
First of al! % let us examine the financial returns from 
TEN BEPI’ERS FILL A PEACH BASKET. Fig. 425. 
See Ruralisms, Page 858. 
the orchard. They are given'in tabular form below. 
Remember that each side of the orchard contains five 
acres. 
EXPENSE OF MANAGEMENT. 
1004 .. 
1905 . . 
1006 . . 
1007 
Sod 
64.04. 
65.00. 
165.28. 
Tillage 
. 106.23 
. 01.04 
. 248.15 
YIELD 
AND 
INCOME FROM SOD. 
lsts 
2ds 
Culls 
Gross 
Net 
Bills. 
Bhls. 
Bills. 
Income 
Income 
1004 . . 
...278 
51 
286.1 
$552.00 
$333.65 
1005 .. 
... 123.3 
38 
71.7 
496.75 
413.86 
1006 .. 
... 135.3 
32 
43 
341.25 
236.05 
1907 . . 
. . .144 1-3 
44 
86 3-4 
726.44 
662.37 
YIELD AND INCOME FROM 
TILLAGE. 
lsts 
2ds 
Culls 
Gross 
Net 
Bills. 
Bills. 
Bills. 
Income 
Income 
1004 .. 
.. .260 
47 
275.0 
$517.89 
$306.00 
1905 . . 
. . .140.3 
34 
05.6 
577.28 
480.43 
1900 .. 
.. .255.3 
00 
185.8 
733.15 
501.35 
1907 . . 
. ,.248 1-3 
63 
113 
1171.66 
1070.66 
It appears from these figures that the first year the 
sod orchard gave a larger net income than the other. 
Since then, with each year, the sod orchard has been 
falling off in returns as compared with the other. This 
year prices of fruit are so high that the returns from 
the sod might satisfy some growers who were so sit¬ 
uated that they could not cultivate. We must con¬ 
sider that the experiment is for those who may be 
handicapped by lack of capital, labor or strength, as 
well as those who will push apple culture to the limit. 
After seeing the fruit in that sod orchard I was sur¬ 
prised to learn that the five acres gave a net income of 
$662.37, with nearly 60 per cent as many firsts as the 
other. It did not seem possible until I remembered 
these trees in the sod orchard which seemed as green 
and vigorous as any in the cultivated side. In fact, a 
few of them at one end were in appearance as good as 
any in the orchard. These trees brought the total 
yield up, and also, it is true some of the trees in the 
sod orchard that were on the line of tillage. 
But what made those trees on the sod orchard so 
green and productive? That is where the “mulcher” 
THE PIGS ENJOY THANKSGIVING. Fig. 420. 
on rough and stony ground will have his innings. We 
will see about that next. h. vv. c. 
STORIES OF THE TREE AGENT. 
A nursery agent has been in this section taking or¬ 
ders for trees claiming to be superior on account of 
grafting and leaving all the tap root. He claims that 
other nurserymen cut the tap root into sections, and 
thus impair the power the tree has of supporting itself 
during dry seasons and also making the life of the tree 
longer. He claims that insects do not injure his trees 
as much as they do other trees. Please discuss this for 
us. D. D. D. 
North Carolina. 
Many are the wiles of the nursery agents, and it is 
nothing new to have them try to convince prospective 
buyers that trees that have been grown on stocks that 
have never had their tap roots disturbed arc superior to 
all others. In nursery practice there is almost no such 
thing as apple trees that have never had their tap roots 
cut, because this could not be unless the seeds were 
planted in the nursery rows and the seedlings budded 
or grafted right there and left to grow until dug and 
sold for orchard planting. Not one tree in a million is 
grown that way, but from seedlings that have been 
transplanted from nurseries that make a business of 
growing them. This transplanting is done with ease 
and safety, and the trees grown from them are as good 
as if they had never been moved. And it matters not 
whether the seedling roots are left their full length or 
cut to half or less than half their length. I have tried 
all lengths from one to 12 inches, and the resulting trees 
were just as good from the five or six-inch cuts as those 
that had been left full length. All seedlings that are 
taken up have the ends of their tap roots cut off in 
any case and it does not hurt them. Peach and some 
other trees are budded on stocks that grow where the 
seeds are planted and they are no better than trees 
grown from good piece roots. Fruit trees do not have 
deep tap roots, because nature has decided that they 
do not need them. Nut trees do have them. Each 
species will make or replace its roots according to the 
VERY MUCH TO BE THANKFUL FOR. Fig. 427. 
natural propensity that governs it, under favorable con¬ 
ditions. Trees grown from good sections of roots live 
just as long and are as healthy and thrifty as those 
that come from what might be termed “whole” roots. 
The claim that “insects do not injure” trees that are 
propagated by any method is not true and is an evi¬ 
dence of intention to deceive on the part of the agent. 
One who will knowingly tell this falsehood cannot be 
safely believed in any other statement he might make. 
He is not likely to be truthful. h. e. van deman. 
