36-4 
April 3, 
HOGS GNAW APPLE TREES. 
1 have trouble with my hogs eat¬ 
ing the bark off my apple trees. I have 
them enclosed in a park in my apple or¬ 
chard and they are eating the bark off 
the trees. Can you tell me what they need 
in their food to prevent them from bark¬ 
ing my trees? t. j. h. 
Maryland. 
Our observations lead us to think that 
hogs gnaw the trees for two reasons. 
There is something lacking in their 
food, and they crave the substance found 
in the live bark. The food is lack¬ 
ing in lime phosphate. They gnaw to 
relieve the feeling in their teeth. We 
have had very little trouble so long as 
the hogs were well fed and supplied 
with salt and wood ashes. Fine ground 
bone charcoal also helps. If the hogs 
can have constant access to wood ashes 
and salt, they will eat large quantities 
and keep in good condition. It may 
be hard to break the habit when once 
formed. In such case, if the hogs stay 
in the orchard, you must protect the 
trees by driving stakes around them 
and stapling fence wire to the stakes. 
GOOD ROOTS ON TRANSPLANTS. 
In the discussion of the Stringfellow 
method of tree planting, it has been 
brought out that in the warm and 
humid climate of the tropics and semi¬ 
tropics, if a small tree is pulled up, 
all roots shaved off but the tap root, 
and it is planted again, it will live and 
appear to do as well as if replanted 
with many of its fine roots, but that 
in the North a better growth will be 
made if quite a large root system is 
saved. [The discussion of the String- 
fellow system has led . 75 per cent of 
tree planters to cut root and top as they 
never did before.—Eds.] Truckers who 
wish the earliest vegetables for market 
—where it will pay for the work, as 
in the case of early tomatoes—put the 
seedlings in pots or on sods so that 
when the plants are transferred to the 
field the entire root system may be 
saved. In the case of early celery and 
cabbage, where it will not pay to pot 
the plants, the seedlings are sometimes 
transplanted. The tap root and long 
lateral roots are broken off in the 
transplanting, and a new system of fine 
roots is formed near the crown, so that 
when the plants are transferred to the 
field most of .the new fine roots will be 
preserved. Transplanted plants com¬ 
monly sell for from two to three times 
the price of plants not transplanted, 
and are generally considered worth it. 
In planting fields of cabbage or celery, 
transplanted plants are thought to be 
too costly to be prcifitable. The ques¬ 
tion then confronts us, can we raise, 
a “seed bed” plant that will closely ap¬ 
proach the transplanted plant in value, 
without adding to the ordinary expense? 
If as many roots can be got up with 
an ordinary plant as with a transplanted 
plant, the ordinary plant is worth as 
much as the transplanted one. 
There are three means of adding to 
the value of the seed-bed plant—the 
three together, without adding much to 
its cost, making the plant when ready 
to set almost as good as a transplanted 
one. First, if one lot of plants is pulled 
up and another lot is taken up by loos¬ 
ening the whole row with a fork and 
knocking the dirt off the roots many 
more roots will be left on those that 
are dug with a fork. For a few hours 
after a rain plants may be pulled, and 
many of the roots will come up with 
the plant, but at all other times the 
whole row should be loosened with a 
fork and the dirt knocked off. Second, 
if one lot of plants be raised on loose, 
sandy soil and another lot on clay soil, 
and both lots be dug with forks, the 
clay soil will break up in small or 
large lumps, and in knocking the soil 
off the plants, most of the fine roots 
will be knocked off with it, while the 
sandy soil will fall out from between 
the roots and leave most of the root 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
system intact. If sandy soil is con¬ 
sidered lighter or poorer, enough fer¬ 
tilizer may be used to make it as rich 
as wanted. Third, it is a well-known 
fact that wherever there is plenty of 
well-rotted manure or fertilizer, the root 
system of a plant will develop most. 
The roots will follow the manure or 
fertilizer. If the manure or fertilizer 
is harrowed down five or six inches 
deep the plant roots will go down that 
deep after it. If it is harrowed in 
only three or four inches deep the roots 
will mostly form in the upper three 
or four inches, and as most roots that 
are below three or four inches are 
broken off in taking up the plants, even 
in sandy soil, the fertilizer should only 
be harrowed into the top three or four 
inches; then the top soil will be filled 
with fine roots, and they can be got up 
up with the plants. Taken together, 
if loose, sandy soil is used, the fertil¬ 
izer only harrowed in three or four 
inches deep, and the rows of plants are 
loosened with forks, a root system 
nearly equal to that of a transplanted 
plant can be secured. F. w. rochelle. 
Sowing Clover and Turnips; Strawberry 
Questions. 
11., Urbana, O .—We are in the habit of 
laying our coni by during the last week 
in June. Would this be too early to sow 
Crimson clover and Cow-horn turnips? Is 
the Loganberry hardy in this climate (cen¬ 
tral Ohio) ? On what kind of soil does Mr. 
Kovitt grow those wonderful crops of 
strawberries? About 10 years ago I tried 
growing berries in hills, setting them one 
foot apart in rows three feet apart. Glen 
Mary, Gandy and perhaps 20 other va¬ 
rieties were planted. One day of each week 
was set apart to hoe, cultivate and cut 
runners, and we do not believe that anyone 
gives better attention to their patch than 
this one received. But when fruiting time 
came we found just as large berries in the 
matted rows, and many more of them. We 
afterwards tried the Kellogg hedgerow 
scheme with the same results. We con¬ 
cluded that our soil was not adapted to 
this kind of culture. 
Ans. —No, it would not be too early. 
We would seed it then if the corn 
crop were ready. We are obliged to 
keep on cultivating the corn longer 
than this in order to get full growth. 
The Loganberry will not succeed with 
you. Mr. Kevitt has a variety of soils. 
The large crops he reports are grown 
on what we call a light or medium 
clay which is heavily manured. 
Starting Up Old Apple Trees. 
R., Dale Enterprise, To.—I have some 
30-year-old apple trees in thrifty condition 
which bear fruit of no value. What can I 
do with them to make them profitable? I 
am told they are too old to graft. Could 
I cut out the branches near the trunk and 
get new shoots and graft on them in a year 
or two with success? 
Ans. —Apple trees 30 years old are 
far from being past the profitable age 
for top-grafting Many have been 
changed to other and better varieties 
that were 50 years old, or even more. 
But any trees that are to be grafted 
should be healthy and vigorous, or 
the grafts will not grow well. In do¬ 
ing or having done such an important 
thing as cutting away the old top and 
trying to grow a better one there should 
be no bungling. If the owner does 
not understand the art of grafting it 
will pay to get some one to do the 
work who knows the best way to do 
it, or it may be a failure. One who 
does not know how may learn, but to 
experiment on valuable trees would 
not be wise. If the branches were 
properly cut many of them might be 
grafted this Spring, but it may be neces¬ 
sary to head back some of them to 
get new shoots to graft into. One 
of the main principles in grafting is 
to cut off the topmost and thriftiest 
branches first and graft them. Some 
make the mistake of at first grafting 
subordinate branches and let the lead¬ 
ing ones remain for cutting back and 
grafting' later. The grafts should be 
given the ascendency always. 
H. E. VAN DEMAN, 
AMERICAN 
FENC 
T 
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To get 
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