1908. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
60S 
A CITY MECHANIC’S MULCHED TREES. 
Several years ago a city mechanic suddenly awoke 
to the fact that gray hairs were appearing about his 
temples thickly enough to excite comment among his 
friends. This made him realize that it was high time 
to look in earnest for that farm home of which he 
had often dreamed, for he knew the heavy handicap 
that gray hair places upon a city mechanic in this 
hustling age of the “young man.” At about this time 
he was fortunate enough to become acquainted with 
The R. N.-Y., and read with eagerness the articles 
of the Hope Farm man, Grant Hitchings and others, 
on orcharding. They seemed to point out a path to 
AN OLD-FAS III ONED RHODE ISLAND HOUSE. 
Fig. 317. 
his goal that the city mechanic might follow with a 
reasonable chance of success. So, primed with good 
advice he sallied forth and bought the only farm he 
could find that came within his means, and it ap¬ 
parently presents many more problems on its 83 acres 
than even Hope Farm. Within a month after pur¬ 
chasing his farm he had set out 300 apples trees. Now 
for the excuse for this letter. 
These trees, which have been treated as nearly as 
possible after the methods of Mr. Hitchings, are now 
in their fifth Summer, and in spite of the fact that 50 
of them are Wageners, the prospective crop consists of 
five apples. In looking over the files of The R. N.-Y., 
the city mechanic finds Mr. Hitchings succeeded in get¬ 
ting fruit from Northern Spy trees in their fourth 
year. Therefore the city mechanic deems it his duty 
to warn all inexperienced horticulturists that they 
can hardly hope to obtain the same results from a 
young orchard as a veteran like Grant Hitchings. 
Nevertheless the city mechanic is not at all discour¬ 
aged. Most of his trees have made a fair growth. A 
few were heaved out by frost. Some were planted in 
wet ground, and died. The mice got a few. All told, 
perhaps 10 per cent have been lost out of 1600 planted. 
With the other 90 per cent all in thrifty condition 
the planter can look forward with cheerfulness to thei 
time when they will bear. While waiting for that 
time he is holding his job, has paid off the mortgage, 
repaired and furnished two old houses that were on 
the place, and rents them to Summer campers for 
enough to pay four per cent interest on all the money 
invested. His greatest enjoyment is during the few 
weeks vacation he takes on the farm, when business 
JUST READY FOR BUSINESS. Fig. 318. 
is dull in the Summer. With auto-spray, hoe and 
rake he encourages the trees to the best of his ability, 
occasionally seeking a shady spot to indulge in rosy 
dreams of the future. Pictures of the trees are shown 
on the first page._ r. a. young. 
CHANCES FOR GOOD CAPITAL. 
On page 647 we printed a letter from a city business 
man who states that his friend with a good farm is look¬ 
ing for some practical farmer who would make a good 
farmer. Already about a dozen men have called for fur¬ 
ther particulars. We are glad at all times to aid in 
bringing farmers and town capital together. Now we 
print another proposition. In the former case the city 
man talks of putting up capital and farm against skill 
and energy. Here is a man who will put up farm and 
skill against capital. Let us see how that combination 
will work : 
About one year ago I read an inquiry from an Iowa 
man who wished to come East and engage in raising 
beef cattle and draft horses. As soon as the Iowa 
man’s letter was printed several persons, as I remem¬ 
ber it, offered to furnish money for such a venture, and 
one even would furnish land, etc. The breeding of 
purebred dairy cattle and manufacture and sale of 
choice dairy products presents to my mind a 
far better chance for profit than either beef cattle 
or any class of horses, and my scheme is, briefly, 
this: I have farm, buildings, silo, etc., and 
can buy one or 40 ordinary grade cows with little 
or no money down, and have our creamery man 
send part of checks toward purchase price of cows 
each month till fully paid. I want some one to 
furnish a few purebred animals on some similar deal, 
or a partnership basis. I am convinced that such a 
scheme, properly carried out on business lines, could 
be made very profitable. This is a country of cheap 
land and there are several farms near me for sale at 
very low figures and if sufficient capital were available 
some of these could be purchased and worked into 
the scheme, producing purebred cattle and high-class 
dairy products, also Vermont maple sugar. I am 
having excellent returns from early potatoes for 
nearby markets, and on a larger scale one could do 
a fine thing in seed potatoes for sale to States south 
of us, and less fortunate in the matter of blight and 
other diseases. 
I have had a course in dairy farming at one of our 
best agricultural colleges, and three years post-grad¬ 
uate drill as foreman for the professor in dairying 
at the institution, and at 30 am beginning to realize 
what I have yet to learn about this great business of 
THE HEAD OF A FRIEND. Fig. 319. 
dairying. J. H. Hale came to Vermont several years 
ago and tried to interest capital in buying land in the 
Lake Champlain region to plant apple trees, offering 
to guarantee an income of 20 per cent, but not suc¬ 
ceeding he went to Georgia, and everyone knows the 
result. Now, while there can be no question as to 
the future of fruit growing in the East, still I firmly 
believe that dairy farming with maple sugar and pota¬ 
toes as side issues, as outlined above, to be equally as 
good a proposition for a man of capital to interest 
himself in. What do you think of it? l. c. l. 
Vermont. _ 
STRINGFELLOW ON TRANSPLANTING 
LARGE TREES. 
Referring to Falicon’s request for information as 
to best method of moving his row of eight-year-old 
apple trees, I will tell how I have often moved peach, 
cottonwood, live oak and other trees with bodies from 
four to six inches in diameter, not only without loss 
of a single tree, but with resultant growth so vigorous 
as to renew their heads in a few years. I have 
never planted an apple tree older than two years, but 
see no reason why his eight-year-old trees could not 
be moved just as successfully as those named. In 
fact no tree takes more kindly to root-pruning than 
the apple. Next Fall, as soon as the leaves have 
fallen, let him cut back the heads to a single stem 
about eight feet high, and with a sharp ax cut straight 
down about six inches or less from the trunk all 
around, driving the ax so as to sever all collar roots, 
but removing no soil from the surface next the tree. 
Then remove the earth outside the ring as deep as 
the cut, and drive the ax down as before all around, 
and clear the soil from the circle for a space of eight 
or 10 inches so as to allow the next cut to be made 
sloping toward the tree. Continue until all side and 
vertical deep roots have been cut, leaving the tree 
standing in the hole with a ball of compact earth from 
12 to 15 inches or more in diameter every way. Then 
dig holes about 2j4 feet deep and about six inches 
wider than the ball, rounding the bottom so as to fit 
the bottom of the ball somewhat and scattering well- 
pulverized soil an inch or more in depth to bring the 
ball in close contact with the hole. But by no means 
dig or loosen the bottom soil, under the delusion that 
the roots cannot penetrate it just as easily as all tree 
seeds do the firm surface in a state of nature. Grad¬ 
ually fill the holes with well-pulverized moist surface 
soil, working it under the ball firmly with the hands 
and packing with a blunt stick or dibble. When half 
full, ram the earth as for a fence post; complete fill¬ 
ing to the surface and again ram so as to leave a 
RYE IN AN ILLINOIS FIELD. Fig. 320. 
depression of four or more inches which should be 
filled with water and allowed to sink away several 
times, until the ball and earth are saturated. Next, 
fill the hole level, but do not tramp, and mulch with 
strawy manure deep enough to prevent freezing or 
heaving. If desired, a taller trunk can be left, but 
strong vigorous shoots will spring from the top and 
by leaving the upright ones only, a five or six-foot 
trunk could be lengthened several feet. If Falicon 
has the faith to follow these directions, his trees will 
re-establish themselves on strong tap roots from the 
lower ends of the old stubs, and in a few years over¬ 
take the others. If he plants them with long roots, 
spread out laterally in wide holes, they will be perma¬ 
nently dwarfed. h. m. stringfellow. 
“ABANDONED FARMS” IN NEW YORK. 
We do not like to admit the abandoned farm no¬ 
tion so far as our section is concerned, yet there are 
a good many unoccupied farms. Most of these farms 
are worked to some extent, at least to the extent of 
harvesting the hay and utilizing the pasture, and fre¬ 
quently some field or fields are under the plow. The 
number of these farms where no one lives and where 
only a fraction of their possible production is realized 
seems to be on the increase slowly. At the same time 
the average price of such farms is certainly no higher, 
and is perhaps lower, although the better improved 
farms are held at pretty good prices. Fig. 321 shows 
the buildings on one of these farms of 40 acres, which 
has recently been purchased at a very moderate price. 
I was unable to learn the exact figures at which the 
transfer was made, but it was something over $5 an 
acre, although certainly less than $10. The land is 
nearly level, and is quite readily made productive. 
BUILDINGS ON A N. Y. ABANDONED FARM. Fig. 321. 
This particular farm is situated some seven or eight 
miles from a railroad station, but there is daily mail 
delivery, and the telephone is accessible. Milk sells 
for as much when produced on such a farm as it 
would if from one costing a hundred dollars an acre 
and situated within the limits of an incorporated 
village, and it costs but little more to transport it to 
the point of shipment. I asked an old farmer if some 
of the people in the cities who are out of work could 
take such a farm and make a living. He said no; they 
would starve to death. It needs knowledge and train¬ 
ing to run a farm successfully these days. There are 
some city people, however, who could do something on 
such a farm, but they wouldn’t like to live in the 
country, I fancy. h. h. lyon. 
Chenango Co., N. Y. 
