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Vor.. LXV11. No. 3057. 
NEW YORK, AUGUST 29, 1908 
WEEKI.Y, $1.00 PER YEAR. 
BEST STOCK FOR FRUIT FARMS. 
None at All in the Ozarks. 
It is my opinion that where fruit crops are reason¬ 
ably certain every year no live stock of any kind, 
except poultry, should be kept in orchards. Long 
experience convinces me that in order to get the 
best results from orchards they should be cultivated 
pretty regularly. When trees are of bearing age 
cow peas are the best crop in this Ozark section for 
maintaining the fertility of the soil. Next to cow 
peas I regard Red clover and Orchard grass as an 
excellent crop to grow among fruit trees for enrich¬ 
ing the soil, but after two years it should be turned 
under late in Fall or early in Spring, and the land 
thoroughly harrowed before Spring growth begins. 
By pursuing this course a new crop of clover will 
come up without the expense of reseeding. All that 
will be necessary is to sow a little Orchard grass be¬ 
fore the last harrowing to insure even a better crop 
of Red clover and Orchard grass than the previous 
harm to an orchard, but to pasture good orchards 
regularly I consider bad policy. I have found that 
after apples get to a fair size no kind of stock will 
do in an orchard unless the trees arc very high- 
beaded, which they are not in this section. I togs 
will not bother apples much while feeding on cow 
peas, but after they are cleaned up it is best to take 
them out, otherwise they are liable to do more dam¬ 
age than the feeding profit of the peas amounts to. 
Some people have an idea that windfall apples are 
a “great thing’ for hogs. My experience leads me 
to the conclusion that there is more money in grind¬ 
ing them up for vinegar, especially since the pure 
food law Has been in force. Live stock in connec¬ 
tion with fruit growing may be made reasonably 
profitable in the Southwest, but it requires good 
judgment and careful management, otherwise the 
orchard will do better without it. louis f.rr. 
Practice in New York. 
In some parts of the great apple-producing belt 
My own experience has been with both hogs and 
cattle, and while not according to the latest rules for 
the scientific care of a modern orchard, the means 
employed were highly satisfactory for the conditions 
with which 1 was confronted. Years ago I came into 
possession of a farm which as to apple orchard was 
the same as hundreds of other farms about me; one 
old orchard containing many varieties of apples, trees 
of mammoth height and uncultivated ; another younger 
orchard just coming into bearing, and annually 
cropped with the usual rotation of corn, oats, wheat 
and hay. The old orchard was located near the house 
and convenient for a hog run, so this was kept well 
stocked with hogs and never plowed. The hogs 
were always kept with rings in their noses and 
never allowed to root, so a stiff sod was formed, which 
afforded an abundant pasture. Year after year the 
droves of hogs deposited a coating of manure which 
kept the old orchard in excellent bearing condition, 
and made it an exceedingly profitable 10 acres of 
ground. I know that cultivation is advised for all 
SOME LIVE STOCK ON A CALIFORNIA FARM. Fig. 306. 
one. In this Ozark section clover, after it is once 
thoroughly established, will reseed itself, no matter 
bow often it is plowed under, and, therefore, I regard 
it as the most economical fertilizer we have. To get 
the best results it should be mowed early in July and 
left on the ground. 1 have discovered that clover, 
bbc many varieties of grasses, likes company and 
since Orchard grass grows in bunches and keeps the 
soil in loose condition I prefer it to any other. 
Having had several failures of fruit crops in this 
section in recent years, owing to very unusual climatic 
conditions during the Spring seasons, many grow¬ 
ers are talking about stock raising in connection with 
orcharding, and some have already gone into hogs 
and others into cattle, and let them run in the or¬ 
chards. My idea is that if a fruit grower wants to go 
into the live stock business, such as hogs, sheep, cattle 
nr mules, he should provide separate and ample pas¬ 
tures for them outside of the orchard; he should 
also have some good land to grow grain crops and 
meadows for hay. There are times in Spring and 
Winter when almost any kind of stock will do no 
of western New York the apple crop is the main 
issue with the grower, who is often a wealthy resi¬ 
dent of some neighboring village or city, and conducts 
the management of bis orchard in the same manner 
as he would carry on some manufacturing enter¬ 
prise, and ignores all other branches of farm life. 
But the great bulk of the apples are produced by 
men who live on the farm and carry on a system 
of general farming, with the apple orchard occupy¬ 
ing a small proportion of the farm. These men look 
upon the orchard as producing the most profitable 
crop they can raise, but at the same time they realize 
that it can be most economically cared for when 
fertilized by the products of some other portion of 
the farm. Thus we find the great majority of the 
farmers raising cattle and hogs, with a few of them 
keeping a small flock of sheep, and all of them some 
bens. In this section cattle are the principal means 
of providing the necessary fertility, for the numerous 
cheese and butter factories afford a profitable outlet 
for the dairy products, while the orchards demand 
the manure. 
apple orchards, but it would have been impractical 
for mine, for the trees were so exceedingly tall, 
and the soil gravelly with plenty of cobblestones, 
so that many apples which fell from the trees would 
have been a total loss. They would have been so 
badly bruised and smashed as to be unfit for use. 
r \ hen too, the fertility being annually renewed by 
the hogs made further cultivation unnecessary. Now 
after many years of usefulness the old orchard is 
nearly all goiie, and the soil so rich that crop after 
crop of grain of record-breaking yield are being- 
raised on this same field. 
The younger orchard was treated differently. No 
hogs were allowed to run in it, but it was cropped 
while young, and plenty of barnyard manure applied. 
When it came into bearing the cropping ceased, but 
cultivation and liberal applications of manure were 
continued. It is now in its prime, and one of the 
best-paying orchards of this section. The trees have 
been kept carefully trimmed, and will never reach 
the gigantic height of the old orchard, but the amount 
of fruit raised and the quality far exceed that of the 
