1 sms. 
'THK RURAL NEW-VORKER 
.3 
APPLE CULTURE IN WESTERN NEW YORK. 
CULTIVATION OR MUI.CH ? 
An Important Experiment. 
Fart VIII. 
I find that some readers are surprised because I do 
not attempt a more vigorous defense of the mulch 
system. I did not start out to defend it hut merely 
to give the facts about that experiment. The mulch 
men and the cultivators are welcome to come with 
their facts and help analyze the results. 
As it stands the orchard shows that clean culture 
is far ahead of seeding down and cutting the grass 
once. To go on from this and argue that the true 
“mulch culture” is just as inferior to cultivation will 
not do, because Hitchings, Ballou and others demon¬ 
strate that what they call “mulching” is a very dif¬ 
ferent thing. Last week I talked with Jay Allis, of 
Medina. Tie has seen that Auchter orchard and says 
with Hitchings that it is not a fair test for mulch¬ 
ing. Mr. Allis says that in some of his orchards 
where the sod is left the grass is cut early and piled 
under the trees. This plan does not give as large a 
crop hut the apples are fine and do not cost as tm e’ . 
Mr. Allis thinks it would have been a fairer test if 
the grass had been cut earlier—twice during the 
season, raked and piled under the spread of the 
trees, instead of all over the ground. I would like 
to have Hitchings, Ballou and others tell what can 
be done with that sod orchard now in order to make 
the conditions right. Now, I think the way to have 
a good mulched orchard is to plant the trees in sod 
anti keep them there. After an orchard has been 
under high tillage for a number of years it is evidet t 
that seeding it down without adding fertilizer or 
manure will retard the growth of the trees for some 
years at least. 
My suggestion is to try nitrate of 
soda and lime on that sod, cut the grass 
earlier and rake it under the trees. A 
writer from Florida has made this sug¬ 
gestion : 
Try a littlr nitrate of soda on that sod 
orchard, say in October and again very 
early in the Spring. 1 should want to gel 
it on just as soon as the ground thawed 
out. 1 believe the Fail application is what 
will have the desired effect, and when I say 
little, I mean 'about five pounds to a full- 
grown tree and somewhat less in Spring. 
I can see no advantage in using the 
nitrate in the Fall. It seems to me that 
one of the first principles of fertilizing 
is to use nitrate of soda in the Spring or 
whenever quick growth is needed. We 
should not try to push wood growth 
when it ought to ripen. 
As will be seen in the following state¬ 
ment from Mr. Delos Tenny some of the 
best growers around Hilton use stock- 
yard manure in their orchards, thus keep¬ 
ing up the supply of vegetable matter 
in the soil. For it must he said that 
some of the best fruit growers in west¬ 
ern New York have solid figures to hack 
up their claims for high culture. Mr. Collamer told 
me that apple culture did not become a true business 
enterprise until they began to cultivate and spray 
thoroughly. I meet a number of these growers who 
say they have tried sod. Some simply seeded the 
orchard and cut the grass, while others, like Albert 
W ood, spread stable manure on the sod. 1 judge 
that most, if not all of them, have plowed up the 
sod and gone hack to cultivating. The following 
statement is made by Delos Tenny, of Hilton, show¬ 
ing the return from orchard land in that section. 
Such statements are everyday matters in western 
New York. In other parts of the country people 
will consider them improbable—some will not con¬ 
sider them possible. The figures are correct and 
even larger ones might be truthfully given, hut let 
no man think he can start an orchard on ordinary 
land and with ordinary care reach even 25 per cent 
of these figures: 
Cultivated Apple Orchard Figures. 
1 have one block of 26 trees. Northern Spy; 19 
of these trees are about 75 years old. and seven are 
35. d'he largest are 50 feet in diameter, that is the 
branches reach that amount. The trees are trimmed 
yearly, care being taken to thin out the limbs to 
let light into all parts of the tree. They are" sprayed 
two to four times a year with Bordeaux and arsenic. 
The first spraying is just as the leaf is coming out, 
then before the blossom opens, then just as soon as 
most of the blossoms have fallen, and in two to 
four weeks after. Sometimes the second and last 
sprayings are omitted. The ground is plowed shallow 
early in the Spring and cultivated with a spring-tooth 
harrow once a week till July or August and then 
>nwt to clover. Medium and Mammoth in equal parts. 
We gathered this year from these 26 trees 196 barrels, 
which sold for $4.35 a barrel, making $852.60.. The 
drops sold for $44.76, making $897.36. The north 
side of the trees was not very full or we should 
have had our $1000. One tree had V2/ 2 barrels, which 
netted $30. 1 hese trees are manured with barnyard 
manure. The orchardists around Hilton are using a 
great deal of stockyard manure from Buffalo. The 
25-acre orchard has had 10 carloads put on it this 
Fall. All of these orchards have about the same care 
I give my Northern Spy. They are thoroughly 
sprayed, cultivated and trimmed every year and lots 
of manure is used. There are other orchards, no 
doubt, that have done as well as these. These Spy 
trees two years ago had 186 barrels, for which the 
buyer paid $4 per barrel, packed ar.d furnished the 
barrels. 
Report below of ll acres. Baldwin and Northern 
Spy and a w others kinds. The gross sales in¬ 
cluding barrels are as follows for the past six years; 
1902 .1.331 Far re’s.$3 588.88 
1903 .1 -oSli barrels.; . 2.423 02 
loot .1.048 barrels. ’ .94 t.‘>5 
1905 . 1545 Harr is. 3.681.00 
lorn! .1.113 lvarre’s. 2 627."3 
1907 .1.131 barrets. 1.200.6'! 
Total .7.254 $18,466.31 
Report of is acres of orchard, Baldwin ai d Duche s, 
trees about 35 years old. 'I'his orchard lias had from 
1.800 to 2,900 barrels a year for the past fine years. 
Flic gross sales are as follows; 
1 903 
1904 . 
. 3.393 
1905 .. 
. 4,278 
1906 ... 
1907 . . 
. 7 .81 0 
Report of 25-acre orchard, Baldwin and Greening 
with a few other kinds, 18 acres about 40 years old, 
seven about 30: 
1002 .3.049 barre’s.$7,379.00 
1903 .1.719 barrels. 3.538.00 
1904 .1.738 barrels. 3.623.00 
1905 .4.020 barrels. 9.582.00 
1906 .2.265 barrels. 4.733.00 
1907 .3,601 barrels.11.080.00 
Total .16,392 $39,935.no 
I his is the gross, including the barrels, which cost 
from 30 to 36 cents. oei.os tenny. 
lo these reports let me add one given by Mr. 
Auchter. His neighbor, Mr. George Northrup, sold 
from one acre of Nonsuch apples 16S barrels of ap les 
at $3.50, or $588 for the acre. We have been asked 
where the fruit from the experiment orchard was 
sold. Mr. Auchter says that the barrelled fruit was 
I ought by a dealer who has them now in storage, 
while part of the drops went to evaporators and 
part for cider. 
Now this is what high culture does for apples on 
this western New York soil. If our mulching friends 
have figures to present T shall he glad to print them. 
I know that whenever such figures are printed many 
readers go so far as to say that the stories are false. 
Pitch people do not live in western New York, for in 
F at section 1 otli the trees and the fruit prove con¬ 
vincing. I should regret, however, to lead any man 
into believing that lie can reach such results on soil 
not suited to apples and in sections where apple cul¬ 
ture is not the leading business. 
Next week 1 will take up some of the many sug¬ 
gestions about growing apples. The thing above all 
else lo remember is. Prof. Hedrick's last reason for 
urging culture. He says that invariably the men 
who plow and till to best advantage, are sure to spray 
and prune also. The thorough tillage leads to more 
thorough work in every part H. w. c. 
QUESTIONS ABOUT POULTRY KEEPING. 
I have !>oeu keeping poultry for several years on the 
colony plan, combining fruit growing and poultry keeping. 
My houses being quite widely scattered I have used a horse 
in watering and often also in feeding. I found,however, 
besides the journeys with the horse, a great deal of travel 
on foot, and t got very tired and footsore. This Fall I 
have built a long house, 170x12 feet, divided into 10 com¬ 
partments. and am keeping 50 hens in a compartment. The 
house has no glass windows, but large curtain fronts to 
be lowered or raised as weather conditions require. Would 
you, if starling anew in poultry keeping, build colony 
houses for 500 liens, 25 to 50 birds in a house, or build 
one long one. similar lo my new one? I can see difficulties 
ahead when the season comes for letting out the birds, and 
I don't know how successful I'll he in overcoming them. 
So far the birds are doing finely. They seem bright, 
healthy and happy. A dry mash mixture. 500 pounds good 
mixed feed. 200 pounds corn meal. 200 pounds scraps. 33 1-3 
pounds oil meal, 100 pounds oyster shells and about four 
bushels cut clover is kept by them iu honoers. Wheat Is 
fed in the morning in litter and corn at night. I find the 
l.ibpr in caring for these birds this Winter very much less 
than in earing for the same number in colony houses. I 
have a driven well near the middle of the house—outside— 
rnd easily water the 10 compartments in 15 minutes. I 
1 a -e built (lie house so that I can yard the hens on the 
south side one season and on the north side another season. 
This is keeping hens on the intensive plan. Must I add 
another to the numerous failures of that plan? If so, 
why? G. P. 
II has always seemed to me that the colony plan of 
keeping poultry entailed an enormous amount of un¬ 
necessary labor, and in time of storm exceedingly 
disagreeable labor. Think of going around to 40 col¬ 
ony houses in such a storm as we had here Monday, 
December 9; a driving southeast rain, wind blowing 
a gale, and driving the rain into every crack and 
crexice. No matter what system of feeding is used, 
i 1 a whole week’s feed is put into the hoppers at one 
time, it is still necessary to go to every house once a 
day to gather the eggs, for in cold 
weather the eggs would freeze, and in 
warm weather the eggs being kept warm 
hv hens getting on the nests to lay, 
would start the germs to growing. The 
main objection to the long house plan is 
the fouling of the ground in or about 
the house. This is a very serious ob¬ 
jection and will in time cause certain 
failure unless radical measures are taken 
to prevent it. T believe in earth doors 
for poultry houses, because the absorp¬ 
tive power of dry earth is wonderful, 
hut at least twice a year the whole sur¬ 
face to the depth of four to six inches 
should lie removed, and clean earth put 
in its place, then you have your poultry 
house practically removed to a new loca¬ 
tion. I think it is better to arrange 
so as to have four yards instead of two, 
and use them all two or three times in 
a season, or as often as the fowls eat 
up the growing green stuff. Instead of 
dividing the 170-foot house into 10 pens 
I would take out all partitions except 
that part between the roosts and let the 
fowls have the whole interior to range 
in: that is, where market eggs only are 
being produced. I'aeh hen would then have ten times 
the floor surface Hie lias now. This plan would do 
away with interior fences, saving quite an amount for 
f< nee wire and posts and making it easier to plow and 
cultivate crops until they were big enough to let 
the hens in. 
Mr. Burr in Maryland is successfully keeping 2,000 
hens In a single flock by this method, and if I were 
in G. P.’s place I should not hesitate to turn my 
500 hens into one flock. 1 think it is a mistake to 
have no glass windows: there should he a two-sash 
window, six 8x12 lights in each sash, in every 17 feet 
with the curtain fronts between the windows and at 
least four feet above the ground. Nothing contributes 
so much to the health and happiness of nearly every 
living creature as sunlight and if you want to get 
eggs from hens you must make them happy. Don’t 
alarm the hens, never make a quick motion when 
among them. The influence of fear on egg produc¬ 
tion lias never been determined so far as I know, hut 
I feel assured that it is very great. Nearly every 
hen will immediately stop laying when moved into 
new surroundings. I'he man who dashes through 
his poultry house, hens flying in all directions to get 
out of his way, will not get so many eggs as one 
who moves gently, talks kindly to them, and takes 
pains to win their confidence. 
G. P. asks, “Must I add another to the numerous 
instances of failure to keep poultry on the intensive 
plan, and if so why?” Really, 1 cannot see “why.” 
If a man is thorough, is awake to the dangers, is 
alert and watchful, I cannot see why the Intensive 
plan cannot he successfully carried on. But it means 
some lantern work; that is a man must go over his 
flock at nieht once or twice a week, with keen eye for 
wet nostrils, swelled heads, incipient colds or other 
signs of trouble. It is because of the neglect to do 
this that so many fail, or rather this is one of the 
most prominent reasons. George a. cos t:o\e. 
Connecticut. 
