1907. 
887 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
APPLE CULTURE IN WESTERN NEW YORK. 
CULTIVATION OR MULCH ? 
An Important Experiment. 
Part IV. 
"IVhat treatment can you suggest that will improve 
that sod orchard without plowing?” 
When I came to my farm I found an orchard of 
some SO old trees in sod. The grass had been cut and 
hauled out as hay. The trees were in poor condition, 
the foliage bad and fruit small and wormy. Each year 
we have kept a drove of well-fed hogs in that orchard. 
They have not had rings in their noses, but have been 
free to root. When the hogs are taken out in the 
Fall for fattening they leave the surface all torn up. 
In the Spring we sow rape, turnips and clover in the 
mud. With this treatment, without cultivation and 
practically no fertilizer, the trees have steadily im¬ 
proved, the crop has increased, apples are larger, and 
even without spraying there are fewer worms. I feel 
confident that a good drove of hogs in that sod orchard, 
well fed and watered, and with all they would eat of 
wood ashes and bone would bring that orchard up and 
make it nearly ecjual to its cultivated neighbor. In the 
ride between South Greece and Hilton I noticed several 
orchards where hogs and sheep were kept. In every 
case they showed a marked improvement in color and 
appearance to the orchards where grass and weeds were 
growing. , 
In answer to this Prof. Hedrick states that the hog 
or shyep method is not practical on a large scale. It 
may answer in small orchards where there is a full 
water supply. Even where practiced at its best the 
apples are not as large and fine as where the 
orchards are thoroughly tilled. The object 
of this experiment is to learn the best method 
for commercial apple growing —not so much 
for the amateur or general farmer, but for 
the business fruit grower who wants to in¬ 
vest money for the sake of making it earn 
more. 
In that view of the case what can be done 
to the sod to make it equal the plowed 
ground? Without question the sod trees are 
at present far behind the others. If they 
were all as good as those along the stone wall 
most reasonable men would be satisfied, but 
they are not, and unless something is done 
soon it is evident that they will grow worse 
instead of better. 
From the appearance of the leaves and the 
growth of wood I should say that these sod 
trees lack soluble nitrogen. The leaves show 
that light yellowish color which we have be¬ 
come familiar with in grass or grain fields. 
Very likely you have noticed in a grain field 
the difference in color between wheat on poor 
soil and that where a pile of manure has 
stood, or in a poor pasture the natural grass 
compared with that growing near a clump of 
manure. That is just the difference between 
the color of those sod trees and the cultivated 
ones, and those along the stone wall. We 
know that in the grass and grain the differ¬ 
ence is due to the potash and nitrogen in the 
manure. In this orchard the difference cannot 
be due to any lack of potash, because this, 
was used in a streak across both orchards, and there 
was practically no difference in appearance of leaf or 
tree where it was used except that the best of the 
stone wall trees were in this strip. From the appear¬ 
ance of the sod trees, I should judge therefore that 
for some reason they could not obtain enough soluble 
nitrogen for their use. Now evidently there must be 
more nitrogen in the sod than in the cultivated soil. 
Every bit of the grass has gone back to the soil. There 
is considerable clover in it, which has added to the 
nitrogen supply. The trees have made but little growth, 
thus taking but little nitrogen from the soil. On the 
cultivated orchard the trees have used three or four 
times as much nitrogen as on the sod, while plowing 
and harrowing without doubt help “burn up” the vege¬ 
table matter and thus set nitrogen free. 
Why then, if the sod ground has more nitrogen, do 
not the trees use it? We shall see next week that Mr. 
Hitchings claims that for the first few years after seed¬ 
ing the grass takes plant food away from the trees and 
turns it into less available forms. It also takes mois¬ 
ture which the trees need until the soil is well filled 
with humus. Many of us have noticed how on some 
soils lacking in vegetable matter a mulch on the surface 
absorbs moisture from the soil. Hitchings believes 
that the sod orchard will recover, and in time gain on 
the other. In my own orchard I have found that in 
some soils heavy mulching with very green stuff acts to 
sour the ground. An application of lime has given 
me remarkable results in such cases, for when the 
soil is too sour it cannot possibly give up its plant food 
freely. I would make careful tests of the soil of that 
sod orchard for acidity. If it proved to be as sour as 
I think some of it is, I would use a ton of lime to 
the acre, and I believe next season would show results, 
as the lime would sweeten the soil and fit it to give 
its plant food more freely. Prof. Hedrick says that 
both tests and signs show that the soil in this orchard 
is not sour. He thinks there is very little acid soil in 
western New York, since that section is largely under¬ 
laid with Niagara limestone, much of which has 
worked to .the top. I would not be too sure that the 
land is “sweet.” At any rate, the lime would help 
break up that organic matter. If the land is not sour 
I would use nitrate of soda to provide soluble nitrogen 
until that in the decaying grass is available. The 
figures show that the difference in cost of culture be¬ 
tween the two orchards was $ 45 . 94 . I would like to 
see all or part of this amount spent for nitrate of soda 
to be used on the sod. Evidently the money spent in 
cultivating sets free a large amount of plant food. Let 
us see if part of that money spent for fertilizers will 
answer. I know that this plan has been tried in other 
parts of western New York and abandoned. Albert 
Wood, a well-known fruit grower, laid aside 25 good 
trees in sod and applied manure heavily on this sod 
for five years in succession. Mr. Wood estimates the 
average loss under this method as compared with his 
plan of high tillage at 100 barrels per year. Still, to 
settle the question for good I would like to see lime 
and nitrate used on this sod orchard 
Now I am trying to get at the truth of this matter, 
and learn just what the .experiment teaches. Grant 
G. Plitchings is the strong advocate of mulching or¬ 
chards. 1 he Station is conducting another experiment 
in Mr. Hitchings’ orchard, having plowed old sod 
alongside of trees that have always been mulched. The 
difference is that Mr. Auchter’s trees were under cul¬ 
ture when the experiment started, so that one side 
went right on with culture while the other started to 
grow grass. On the other hand, Mr. Hitchings’ trees 
were all in sod. Part were plowed and cultivated, 
while the others went right on in sod. There is a 
great difference in this, as we shall see. Next week we 
shall have the figures of this orchard, and Mr. Hitch¬ 
ings will tell us what he thinks about the experiment 
we have been describing. h. w. c. 
THE SPADE AS AN UP-TO-DATE PLANTER. 
One of the discoveries of present-day horticulture is 
the extent to which plants and trees will endure root 
pruning, not only without injury, but with positive 
benefit. With strawberry growers the custom is now 
well established of cutting back the roots of the plant 
one-third or more. The Stringfellow theory first 
brought into prominence the possibilities of root-prun¬ 
ing in the case of trees and, it may not be too much to 
say, has revolutionized the art of planting. The theory 
has been found to hold practically throughout the whole 
vegetable kingdom. It seems to me that the basis of 
all this theory is the fact that roots when dug up and 
replanted never grow again in their original form, but 
that the tree or plant insists upon providing itself with 
an almost entirely new root system, the old roots being 
used merely as material out of which the new roots 
spring. The greatest value in this discovery lies in the 
saving of labor involved in the process of planting. 
With shortened roots it is no longer necessary to dig 
large and deep holes. I want, however, to suggest a 
mode of planting that largely obviates the necessity of 
•figging holes at all, for of course it behooves us to go 
as far in this direction as possible in order to utilize 
the full benefit of Mr. Stringfellow’s discovery. This 
consists simply in an extended use of the spade, one 
of the most primitive tools of husbandry. I believe 
the spade method of planting is destined to take it place 
as the logical adjunct of modern root-pruning. It is 
already recognized as the great instrument in straw¬ 
berry planting. In his excellent article on strawberry 
culture published in The R. N.-Y., I noted Mr. Thayer’s 
contemptuous allusion to the spade as a planting tool, 
and his complacent description of the trowel method as 
a substitute. But nothing in Mr. Thayer’s remark 
shook my confidence in the spade in the least. What 
is the spade but a large trowel, and why should one 
insist on bending back and knees when he can do the 
work equally as well standing erect? No matter how 
careless the boy may be who inserts the plants, with 
my eye upon it as he holds it in the crevice, behind the 
spade, it will be set neither too high nor too low as 
long as my vision is good. Mr. Thayer says he punches 
the dirt around the plant with his fist; I submit that 
the foot of the operator is not only as good but better, 
by its heavier pressure. As long as there is a spade 
in the market I never again expect to make my back 
ache setting plants. 
Coming next to the vegetable garden the spade will 
be found to be a great labor saver in setting most 
plants that are not taken up with a chunk of earth, 
such as tomatoes, cabbage and especially sweet potato 
slips. In small fruit it is equally efficient. It entirely 
displaces the furrow method of planting raspberries, 
blackberries, dewberries, etc. Not only can 
plants be set in half the time that it takes to 
draw furrows and fill them up, and then firm 
the soil around each plant, but they can be 
planted better. With the ground plowed deep, 
harrowed fine, and rolled smooth and firm, 
the old roots will have a solider bed in which 
to start out ‘the scores of new rootlets. The 
V-shaped opening of the spade will inclose 
them tighter and with less air than the loose 
earth pulled back into the furrow, and not 
always well tramped. With their roots carefully 
pruned it is possible to plant raspberries and 
their class almost as rapidly as strawberry 
plants. 
Last Spring I had five rows of grapes to 
plant; in the row between them I wished to 
set strawberries. If I drew a furrow for the 
grapes it would spoil the row for the straw¬ 
berries unless I went to the labor of filling it 
up between the grapes and firming it down. 
Instead of a furrow I stretched a line and 
pruned the grape roots to about six inches; I 
set them with a spade with far less labor 
than I ever set grapes before. As fast as a 
row was planted in grapes the spade was fur¬ 
ther called upon to plant the strawberries be¬ 
tween them. I he whole operation was like 
play, and I was delighted with it, feeling con¬ 
fident that it was a success. And so it proved. 
Of all the grapes I ever planted, none ever 
grew quite so thriftily as these spade-planted 
ones. By the next Fall they had grown two 
canes apiece, each from five to 10 feet long. 
It might be supposed that the spade of the planter 
could not be carried any higher, but even here it has 
surpassed expectations. Yearling trees with mostly 
fibrous roots can be planted easily and successfully, as 
I have proved by experiment That orchardists will 
ever venture to adopt the spade as a planter, I would 
not be willing to predict, but that the fruit grower can 
save himself many a weary hour by its use in general 
planting, I am ready to assert with full confidence. 
The two pictures, Figs. 449 and 450, show how this 
spade work is done. l. r. Johnson. 
Missouri. 
“Undigested Americans” is the name given to the 
great army of men and women now going to Europe. 
Most of them have been in this country several years, 
«.nd have saved $200 or more. They take this cash 
back with them. It is said than $25 will take a man 
to Germany in the steerage with three meals each day I 
On the other side these people will be classed as fairly 
well-to-do by their former associates. Vast sums of 
money are thus taken away from America just when it 
is needed here. The Post Master General states (’ 
these “undigested Americans” hoard their cash, 
afraid of the banks. He uses this as an argu-ru 
favor of postal savings banks, for these foreigners have 
faith in the Government and would put their cash into 
such banks. The Government could pay them two per 
cent interest by lending the money to National banks, 
thus keeping it in circulation. It might be said that the 
country is well rid of this undigested material. Prob¬ 
ably—but it will come back again when the money is 
spent. 
BLOOMS OF SIBERIAN. IRIS. REDUCED IN SIZE. Fig. 451. 
See Ruralisms, Page 890. 
