1909. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
135 
ALFALFA AND LIME. 
The writer has been very much interested in the 
article by Edw. M. East on Alfalfa in Connecticut, 
on page 1. His reasons for successes and failures are 
very clearly put, and are sound as far as they go, but 
he fails to touch on a number of essential features. 
When he points out so forcibly that the chief factor 
toward retarding success is weeds, he certainly strikes 
a keynote. Nevertheless this drawback is not insur¬ 
mountable. It is no doubt true that New England 
soils are heavily stocked with the seeds 
of all the weeds that by nature belong 
to her, while in addition our fields have 
been the “dumping ground” for most 
of the worst pests of Europe and of 
the West. Experience shows that the 
season when weeds start into new life 
and thrive most vigorously is the Spring. 
Those of us who have taken advantage 
of this tendency of our ever-present 
pests have found that we can, in a great 
measure, overcome their evil ways by 
allowing them to “sow their wild oats” 
early in growing season, and give the 
Alfalfa its chance later on. Five years 
of varying success with Alfalfa have 
shown me, and quite a number more of 
Connecticut farmers, that the weed diffi¬ 
culty is greatly reduced by seeding early 
in August. The better plan is to plow 
several weeks before you expect to sow 
the Alfalfa and allow the weeds to start 
and then to “nip them in the bud” by 
harrowing thoroughly once a week. An¬ 
other wise precaution is to plow under 
a liberal supply of manure and use a 
generous amount of quick-acting fertil¬ 
izer on top, just before seeding. Liberal 
feeding of the crop, when young, is of 
first importance. Generous feeding with 
a quick-acting fertilizer will help the 
tender plants to get a start in life, and 
by the time the plants are five to six 
inches high the tap roots will have 
reached the manure and sent out their 
many feeders. 
Our changeable weather in Winter, 
with periods of very little snow protec¬ 
tion, has been the greatest hindrance to 
my success with Alfalfa. Winter-killing 
seems to result from two causes, ex¬ 
tremely cold weather when there is little 
snow on the ground, and the formation 
of ice on dipping areas where the water 
cannot freely flow off the surface. The first of these 
difficulties we must trust mainly to luck, and expect 
to have to re-seed once in three to five years accord¬ 
ing to the “goodness of nature.” Yet some advantage 
may be taken of preventive measures. For example, 
a valuable mulch may be obtained by letting the Al¬ 
falfa make a good growth in the Fall. This will 
afford a Winter protection and serve, in a measure, 
in place of a snow covering. A mulch of manure 
this condition of affairs in Vermont, I am not at all 
inclined to place the same amount of emphasis on 
this question as he has done. In the Champlain Val¬ 
ley and many other portions of Vermont suitable for 
apple culture, we have yet to learn of any injury 
caused to young fruit trees by deer. Much of the land 
in the Champlain Valley is admirably adapted to fruit 
culture. Such lands can now be purchased for from 
$40 to $75 per acre, depending on character of build¬ 
ings upon the land. We believe this land will yield 
as high-grade apples as can be grown in 
any other section of the United States, 
not even excepting the famous fruit 
regions of Oregon and Washington. 
In view of these statements it is 
manifestly unfair to a large portion of 
the State to say that it is simply a waste 
of time and money to set out young 
fruit trees on account of depredations 
by the deer. That depredations do occur 
in some less thickly settled and more 
heavily timbered sections of the State, 
we do not deny; neither do we deny that 
compensation received from the State 
by the owner has not been at all com¬ 
mensurate with the loss sustained. We 
also heartily agree with Mr. Halladay 
that the owner should have the right to 
protect his property from loss by shoot¬ 
ing the deer whenever and wherever 
they are found committing depredations 
upon his premises. We trust therefore 
that the good work of booming the fruit 
interests of New England, and Vermont 
in particular, will go on. The writer 
believes that there is a great future for 
fruit growing in Vermont, provided the 
same intelligent methods are applied to 
it as is being practiced by the growers 
of Washington and Oregon. What we 
need most of all is faith in our possi¬ 
bilities and a determination to produce 
the highest grade of fruit that our cli¬ 
mate and soil will permit. 
WILLIAM STUART. 
Vermont Experiment Station. 
THE DEMAND FOR APPLES. 
I am a great lover of apples; would 
rather have a good apple than an orange; 
But why is it we can’t get them at a 
reasonable price? Those California and 
Oregon apples are here, and they are 
the nicest I ever saw, but we have to 
pay five to 10 cents apiece for them. I have not seen 
any common apples fit to cat here this Winter. Store¬ 
keepers have to pay $G a barrel for common Bald¬ 
wins that are good. We poor mechanics can’t afford 
to eat apples at this Winter’s price. I would have 
been glad to get a couple of barrels at $3.50 each, 
but could not, so have had to go without, except 
occasionally paying five cents apiece. The common 
apples sold at low price this Winter are not worth 
of New England, where limestone is found. The rest 
of the territory must ship its lime a greater or less 
distance. Fully 44 per cent of the ground limestone 
is worthless carbonic acid gas, a product of no value, 
because all plants can get it in abundance from the 
air. In addition the limestone is slow in its action 
on the acid properties of the soil, and it requires 
two to three times more than of the burned lime to 
get a similar effect. The only objection that we can 
see to the use of the burned or caustic lime is a slight 
CAN IERBURA BELLS IN POl'S. Fig. 57. See Ruralisms, Page 142. 
tendency for it to burn out the organic matter of the 
soil. This occurs when the caustic lime is used in 
large amounts during the hotter portions of the year. 
1 his loss may be entirely avoided by using the lime 
in the Fall or Winter, or even in the early Spring. 
V hen spread upon the surface of the land lime gradu¬ 
ally loses its caustic properties by taking up carbonic 
acid gas from the atmosphere. By being a little fore¬ 
handed farmers may apply all of the lime their land 
MULE COLTS IN TOE PASTURE. Fig. 50. 
"ill a lso be found useful as a Winter protection, 
f he second difficulty should be avoided by selecting 
! elds which everywhere have a gentle slope. If dips 
or sags exist in places, water will not run off freely, 
!n case of heavy rains when the ground is frozen, 
i he formation of ice on these sagging areas is almost 
sure to cause considerable winter-killing. 
Perhaps the most important factor in growing Al- 
hdfa successfully is the liberal use of lime. An acid 
condition of the soil seems to be especially damaging 
to the growth of the crop. The lime seems to be 
needed to destroy this acid condition and so to favor 
ihe development of the proper bacteria, and also as a 
direct fertilizer for the crop. We think it a mistake 
for New England farmers to try to substitute the 
crude ground limestone for the burned lime. There 
is only a small belt of country, along the west edge 
needs at that season of the year when work is not 
rushing, and get just as good results, with no possible 
loss. 
Next to the liberal use' of lime I would place the 
matter of soil inoculation. In our experience this 
has always proven helpful when a new field is being 
sown to Alfalfa. If the expense is not large we al¬ 
ways advise the use of at least 800 pounds of such 
soil per acre. After going to considerable expense for 
seed, for the preparation of the soil, and for manure 
and fertilizer—all of which are important—it is not 
wise to slight this other important factor. The soil 
should always be taken from an old Alfalfa field 
where the nodules are known to abound. If the cost, 
including transportation, is large, it is better to use 
200 pounds on one-fourth acre, and then when the 
field is well established one can have his own inoculat¬ 
ing soil near at hand. chas. s. phelps. 
Litchfield Co., Conn. 
THE “DEER NUISANCE” IN VERMONT. 
We are very much interested in your article of 
two or three weeks ago, on “Vermont—the Bashful 
State,” and also in a more recent one by J. H. Hale 
along the same line. These two articles do not in the 
least exaggerate the splendid opportunities that obtain 
in Vermont to-day for orcharding, especially for the 
production of high-grade apples. Such articles as 
these and others of similar nature cannot fail to 
arouse a greater interest in fruit growing in the State, 
provided it does not receive a setback, such as is 
sure to be given by such articles as the one on page 41 
entitled “Why Vermont is Bashful.” Now. while I 
know that the writer of this article was sincere in 
his belief that the “deer nuisance” is responsible for 
GOOD MARE FOR MULE BREEDING. Fig. 5S. 
having, as they are wormy and rotten; seem to be 
those that have been picked out, culls, etc. 
Waltham, Mass. c. h. w. 
R. N.-Y.—We have a good many letters like the 
above. Last Fall was a bad one for holding apples 
outside of cold storage. We lost a good share of our 
own supply. It is hard to think that now working 
people are deprived of fruit while last Fall thousands 
of barrels of good apples were never picked through 
lack of help and a good market. 
Oranges are not extravagantly high-priced, but 
they are not a substitute for apples, and we never 
consider the two fruits as competing with one an¬ 
other. There is a great scarcity of “pie timber” in 
many households this Winter, and a corresponding 
vacancy in the orchardist’s pocketbook. 
