224 
March c, 
on any land that will raise good corn and potatoes. 
I raise most of mine on a stiff yellow clay, not very 
well adapted to it, and have never used anything but 
commercial fertilizer except one year. 
One advantage to a fanner in raising this crop is 
that two-thirds of it may be sold after the first of 
November when most of the hurried work of the farm 
is over. It may be trenched in, and will save until the 
first of January or later. It requires some special 
knowledge to raise the crop, but if a farmer lives 
within 10 or 12 miles of a to-wn of 2000 or 3000 in¬ 
habitants it is worth a considerable effort to have a 
cash income of $200 or $300 that can be depended 
upon every Fall. This year the soil was dry in this 
locality and I thought of putting in a centrifugal pump 
to irrigate the celery but did not do so. No water 
was used on the crop, but the celery was very large. 
As far as I know none of the towns of this county 
are regularly supplied with fresh-cut celery, and with 
some exceptions the conditions are probably the same 
in other parts of the country. I have tried putting 
other vegetables on the wagon with the celery, but 
have never found it to pay as well as to run the 
wagon with celery alone. 
I did not keep a record of the amount of fertilizer 
used on the celery, and so can only give an estimate, 
but think about a ton, costing $35. About 20,000 plants 
were used. They were extra good plants and worth 
about $32. The rent of the land might be placed at 
$8 or $10. Almost any piece of land, not too sandy, 
could be made to produce the same results. I did 
not keep a record of the amount of labor, so I cannot 
make an estimate of value. During the Summer I 
keep a large force of men and boys, and cannot well 
estimate the time put on each crop. After the soil 
was well fitted and the plants set they were hoed 
and weeded two or three times—some four times. 
They were cultivated frequently. The earlier rows 
were bleached by boards, and cultivation was contin¬ 
ued on the balance until time for hilling up. The crop 
had about perfect cultivation. Without plenty of fer' 
tilizer and intensive cultivation as large celery could 
not have been produced. When I began to raise 
JONATHAN APPLE TREE BEFORE PRUNING. Fig. 89. 
celery, eight or nine years ago, there was no wholesale 
produce house in Morristown or Dover. I could then 
sell celery to the stores to good advantage. But for 
five or six years there has been a wholesale produce 
house in Morristown with a branch in Dover and it 
has been more difficult to get a satisfactory price from 
the stores for good celery. The stores, as a rule, will 
not pay much or any more for a very brittle celery 
than they will for ordinary stock if it looks well. 
THE R.UR.A.L, NEW-YORKER 
Private customers will pay more. I do not know what 
the crop would have brought if consigned to com¬ 
mission men, but probably less than the stores would 
pay. I stated that the amount of land was “a little 
less than an acre.” There were three pieces as fol¬ 
lows: 84x250 feet, 23x213, 60x120, or 33,099 feet, .759 
of an acre—a little less than I thought. If there had 
been a full acre the product would have been about 
$840. F. W. ROCHELLE. 
New Jersey. 
CULTIVATED CROPS IN AN ORCHARD. 
I have a young orchard of apple trees which I wish to 
cultivate and crop until it comes into bearing (for eight 
or 10 years), so that the trees would he benefited by the 
cultivation, and I shall receive something from the land 
in. return for the expense of cultivating it, and yet leave 
the land richer than when the cultivation was com¬ 
menced. I want to do this at as little expense for fer¬ 
tilizers as possible. I have planned a three-year rotation. 
First year, corn, with Crimson clover and Cow-horn tur¬ 
nips thickly sown at last cultivation; second year, pota¬ 
toes; third year, Red clover. Will the treatment which 
1 have described accomplish my purpose? If not, will 
you or your readers suggest a better plan? g. w. r. 
Saxonvilie, Mass. 
If the land on which the trees are planted is com¬ 
paratively free from stones—good grass or orchard 
land—some profit may be expected from the crops 
mentioned planted between the trees, but under the 
ordinary or average conditions these crops will pay 
but little profit unless planted and cared for with 
skill and good judgment. It, however, must not bq 
expected that the trees will thrive with barely 
enough plant food to carry out the crop grown be¬ 
tween them. Under favorable conditions and skillful 
management the crops suggested may for a time 
prove profitable, but as the trees grow older they 
will prove less profitable, and the trees should begin 
to yield some income from the sixth or eighth year 
on. For the first year the rotation suggested is, 
perhaps all right, but I would grow early sweet corn 
and market the crop if possible before the middle 
of August, as the ordinary field corn grows late, and 
in a dry season the trees might be seriously injured 
by the moisture being all taken up by the corn. The 
Cow-horn turnip would occupy the land while the 
trees are maturing their growth, and would supply 
a small amount of organic matter to be turned under 
the following Spring, but tbe Crimson clover, espe¬ 
cially in Massachusetts, would yield but a very small 
amount of plant food, and would not be in condition 
to turn under until too late for the very early crops, 
most desirable in our orchards; at least I have 
never seen a crop of much value in this State. 
The potato may be grown among the trees if 
planted very early (by May 1) and be harvested by 
August 10, but if to be left in the ground until Sep¬ 
tember or October, the working of the soil in dig¬ 
ging will tend to a late growth of the trees. Peas., 
beans, early cabbage, beets or other crops that mature 
so as to be harvested by August 10 may be planted 
among the trees without injury. I would suggest 
the following rotation as one that will be very satis¬ 
factory from every point of view on nearly all kinds 
of land: 
First year, early sweet corn, harvested before Au¬ 
gust 15; then sow at once Cow-horn turnips and Red 
or Crimson clover if it has been found to do well 
on the land in question; would use lime or Canada 
ashes with the clover seed. Second year would plant 
potatoes not later than May 1 and harvest by August 
10. Then thoroughly fit the land at once and sow 
peas and barley. These crops grow until heavy 
freezing weather in November or December, lie on 
the ground all Winter, preventing blowing or wash¬ 
ing of the soil, keep the surface well mulched, pre¬ 
venting early weeds from growing, and the land 
need not be plowed in the Spring until it is to be 
planted. The amount of plant food produced by 
this crop is much larger than that from turnips and 
clover, and it is richer in plant food. Third year, 
squashes, planted from June 1 to 10, the land along 
the trees about eight to 10 feet wide to be seeded 
at the earliest time possible after the crop is har¬ 
vested with June grass and equal quantities of Red 
and Alsike clover. After the third year I would 
cultivate only tbe unseeded strips between the trees 
with crops, cutting the clover in June and August 
and placing it as a mulch under the trees. Any crop 
may be grown that is found profitable, keeping in 
mind that a sufficient amount of plant food must be 
used to keep both crops in a vigorous, healthy con¬ 
dition. If it is found that no crop is profitable, 
these strips may be cultivated with the wheel or 
spring-tooth harrow at very little expense, and when 
the trees are from 10 to 15 years old the land should 
be given up entirely to their growth. Such crop¬ 
ping should never be continued too long, and food 
supplied should be sufficient for both the orchrfrd 
trees and the cultivated crop. s. T. maynard. 
AUSTRALIAN TREE PRUNING. 
Figs. 88, 89, 90 and 91 give an excellent idea of 
methodical fruit tree pruning as practiced at Burnley 
College, Melbourne, Australia. Burnley College is 
one of the few places in Oceanica where horticultural 
instruction is given, and these fine photographs show 
that it is thoroughly done there. Such careful prun¬ 
ing is perhaps not always possible in commercial cul- 
SPITZENBURG APPLE TREE PRUNED. Fig. 90. 
tures, but an approach to it should be made when 
first-class fruit is expected. The object of pruning is 
to admit air and light to the interior of the tree by 
removing surplus and unfruitful growths and to 
secure fruitage on those portions of the branches 
where it can best lie carried. Care should be taken 
to encourage the formation of true fruit spurs and 
not an excess of barren twigs. It will be noticed that 
many little branches have been spared by the pruner 
on the Jonathan tree, as fruit spurs form best on such 
growths when they are not shortened. 
THE USE OF HEN MANURE. 
I have several loads of hen manure which I intend to 
use for white potatoes next Spring. What should I buy 
to combine with it for best results? Would you advise 
mixing as soon as possible or not until ready to use? 
Cumberland Co., N. J. n. H. a. 
There are two general methods of using hen 
manure—one is to put it on grass land as soon as it is 
taken from the house, the other to mix it with chemi¬ 
cals into a fertilizer. Mr. Cosgrove on page 87 tells 
us about the first method. It gives him good results 
and is not hard work. Mr. Cosgrove also uses 
manure for corn and potatoes by scattering it in the 
hill or drill when planting. Such men will probably 
claim that the increased labor and cost of mixing the 
fertilizer would not pay them. Another class of farm¬ 
ers claim that this mixing is very profitable. They 
keep the manure in a dry place through the Winter. 
By dusting plaster or “floats” under the roosts and in 
the shed the manure is kept in hard, dry chunks. 
Early in Spring this manure is crushed as fine as pos¬ 
sible. This is usually done by spreading it on a hard 
JONATHAN APPLE TREE AFTER PRUNING. Fig. 91. 
floor, smashing it with a heavy spade or maul and sift¬ 
ing it through a coarse sieve. Just before planting a 
mixture about like the following is made: 900 pounds 
sifted hen manure, 150 pounds nitrate of soda, 750 
pounds acid phosphate and 300 pounds sulphate ot 
potash. In some cases 250 pounds of fine bone are 
used in place of an equal weight of the acid phosphate. 
This combination has given good results as a potato 
fertilizer. By analysis it is low in nitrogen, yet there 
is something about hen manure which always gives 
surprising results. 
