oo<* 
SL'HhC RURAIv NEW-YORKER 
maren 18, 
AN APPLE ORCHARD IN SOUTH 
INDIANA. 
C. N., Buffalo, N. Y.—I have an orchard 
of about four acres set in apples (just 
coming into bearing) on “rolling” land. It 
was plowed and in sweet corn for the 
most part in 1007. Since then it has been 
in weeds, sod, etc. The ground is threaded 
with persimmon roots in places, and there 
are a great many dewberry and blackberry 
brambles, the place having been wholly 
neglected the seasons of 1908 and 1909. 
The soil is a clay with a good deal of 
broken limestone and some small bowlders 
of a quartz-like character. What can 1 put 
that ground in next Spring or Summer that 
will return me a direct profit as well as 
benefiting the orchard indirectly? The 
ground is too steep and irregular in its 
contour to allow annual plowing. The 
ultimate idea of the farm is to keep cows 
for butter, and poultry for eggs. I do not 
know that this has any particular bearing 
on the case, but I state it lest it may. 
This farm is situated in southern Indiana, 
about 700 feet above sea level and in ex¬ 
actly the same latitude as Louisville, Ky. 
Everything grows here that grows in the 
North and some things besides, both in 
vegetables and forage crops. 
Ans. —The planting of cultivated crops 
in a young orchard, while the trees are 
growing to the age of fruit bearing, is 
entirely permissible, provided the land 
be fertile to begin with, and that the 
fertility removed and the humus worn 
out in the production of such crops be 
fully repaid to the soil. Where it is 
necessary to plant an orchard on land 
low or moderate in fertility the effort 
of the planter, from the very outset, 
should be to build up in that soil, as 
rapidly as possible, the store of plant 
food that will be needed in abundance 
to supply the trees when they attain 
the age of fruit bearing. To insure an 
extended period of fruit bearing, trees 
must be well nourished. An orchard 
will produce for a time on poor land, 
though the crops cannot be counted 
upon to be either regular or heavy; but 
under modern orchard management 
where thorough spraying is given es¬ 
pecial attention, resulting in a degree of 
prolificacy rarely found in uncared for 
orchards, the trees must be liberally fed 
else a few seasons will bring loss of 
vigor, and perhaps death. 
Presuming that, in a general way, soil 
and climatic conditions are similar in 
southern Indiana to those of southern 
Ohio where our experiment station is 
making rather extensive orchard experi¬ 
ments, I would suggest that as the or¬ 
chard is now coming into bearing, all 
crops which do not, directly or indi¬ 
rectly, benefit the orchard by improving 
soil conditions, be discontinued. The 
trees should now have the entire area 
unless the crop grown will perform the 
double and rather unusual service of 
“paying both Peter and Paul.” Cer¬ 
tainly there are few crops outside of 
the legumes—clover, cow peas, Soy 
beans, etc., that are capable of serving in 
this dual capacity. The owner should 
be willing to count as gain the storing 
up of humus and fertility in that steep 
hillside, for, with good care, those young 
trees will soon return a profit far in 
advance of anything in the way of grain 
or forage or vegetable products which 
the ground would be likely to produce 
in its present condition. It would seem 
that to plow the ground in the Spring, 
harrow a few times, keeping all weed 
growth subdued until early June, and 
sowing cow peas or Soy beans, would 
be a good start. We like to drill the 
peas in rows two feet apart so that one 
or two cultivations may be given. A 
grain drill may be used, allowing but 
every third opening to distribute the 
seed. One-half bushel of seed per acre, 
especially of the smaller seeded kinds of 
peas and beans, is sufficient. 
If the soil in the orchard be fairly 
fertile it might be worth while to try 
sowing Medium Red clover at the rate 
of one peck to the acre, among the cow 
peas or Soy beans, just after their last 
cultivation (from the middle to the last 
of'July), running over the ground after 
seeding with a very fine toothed culti¬ 
vator and, if possible, a narrow, one- 
horse drag or float made of a short piece 
of heavy plank with handles attached to 
guide it between the rows. I have had 
excellent success in sowing Medium Red 
clover in July, following the turning 
under of old bearing beds of straw¬ 
berries. If a catch of clover be ob¬ 
tained it may be cut the following sea¬ 
son and, perhaps, a part of it removed 
for feed, provided an equal weight or 
bulk of vegetable matter be returned to 
the ground from which it was cut. I 
should much rather cut it and allow it 
to lie in the orchard, or rake it green 
and mulch the trees by dividing and 
piling it beneath the ends of the branches 
of the trees. Allowing the ground to 
remain in clover the next season it may 
again be plowed, sowed to cow peas or 
Soy beans in the month of June and 
seeded to mixed grasses and Alsike 
clover the following Spring, having al¬ 
lowed the legume crop to stand over 
Winter. As the ground is steep and 
rough I certainly do not recommend 
continued plowing and cultivation. 
Mulching will give just as good re¬ 
sults and will perfectly conserve the re¬ 
sources of the soil. Straw, swamp hay, 
weeds, potato tops, tomato vines or any 
and all kinds of waste vegetable growths 
will serve for mulching material. This 
material should be heavily applied in a 
circle beneath the extremities of the 
branches and not close to the bases of 
the trees. 
On a hillside such as the inquirer 
mentions, I should not plow the entire 
area of the ground, but would plow 
across the slope, leaving strips of land 
as Wide as the spread of the branches 
of the trees, in sod, mulching each in¬ 
dividual tree. This would be a great 
protection from washing by heavy rains, 
saving many tons of valuable soil that 
otherwise would be carried from the 
slope. A couple of seasons’ plowing in 
this way, with a short season of culti¬ 
vation each time, will result in terracing 
the surface of the slope to some extent, 
which leaves a better driveway between 
each two rows of trees for the passage 
of the spray outfit, and the wagon when 
gathering the apples. 
The desire for a crop which will pay 
a profit in the orchard suggests the ex¬ 
perience of a friend of mine during the 
past season, who sowed one acre of good 
ground to Soy beans for the purpose of 
further enriching it for growing sweet 
corn. This acre of ground, in addition 
to being benefited by the leguminous 
crop, produced 23 bushels of Soy beans 
of the Medium Green variety easily 
worth $57.50 wholesale at prevailing 
prices of the past year. The “bean straw” 
was still available for returning to the 
ground which had produced it. It of 
course requires good soil for this re¬ 
turn; but few soils are so good but what 
a greater store of fertility, or at least a 
maintenance of fertility, is highly desir¬ 
able. I find this to be very true through¬ 
out southern Ohio, and I doubt not it 
would be found the same in southern In¬ 
diana. There are thousands of acres of 
orchard land in southern Ohio that have 
been rendered the poorest parts of the 
farms on which the orchards are located, 
by trying to grow some crop that will 
pay a profit outside of the income from 
the trees. There is a great awakening 
at the present time, however, to the fact 
•that the greatest problem which at pres¬ 
ent confronts the southern Ohio or- 
chardist, is that of restoring to these 
same orchard areas a measure of the 
fertility and humus which characterized 
them in early days. Nothing in the 
way of fertilizer can excel an applica¬ 
tion of stable manure, though stable 
manure can be profitably supplemented 
by an application of ground bone or 
even acid phosphate, either for farm or 
fruit crops. 
After a season or two of cover crops, 
preceded by cultivation of the orchard, 
the brambles and roots mentioned by 
the inquirer may not be seriously 
troublesome; but, after the ground has 
been seeded to grass and Alsike, the 
two or three clippings per season, with a 
mower, w'hich is a part of the sod-mulch 
plan of orchard management, will prob¬ 
ably more effectually keep down the 
wild growth than cultivation would do. 
I know of orchards in southeastern 
Ohio which have been reclaimed from 
thickets of. locust coppice by much work 
in grubbing and cleaning, which the past 
season were kept neat and sightly by 
use of the mowing machine. The wild 
growth as clipped was allowed to lie 
where it fell and the trees were heavily 
mulched with material from outside. 
Beautiful apples were produced this first 
year of reclamation. F. h. ballou. 
Manure, Ashes and Bone. 
J. J. E., Iron Mountain, Mich .—I can 
get all the stable manure I want, and I 
can also get all the hardwood ashes from a 
sawmill. What other fertilizer do I need? 
Ans. —The stable manure will average, 
per ton, 10 pounds of nitrogen, six of 
phosphoric acid and 13 of potash. The 
wood ashes if unleached will give about 
10 pounds potash and 36 phosphoric 
acid per ton with 600 pounds of lime. 
Thus the element you need most is phos¬ 
phoric acid. If you can collect bones 
and have them ground reasonably cheap 
you will have a balanced ration. In 
some parts of Michigan where wood 
ashes are plenty farmers are able to buy 
or collect large quantities of bones. They 
can be steamed under high pressure and 
then ground. Used with the wood ashes 
they will fertilize clover, Alfalfa and 
grain and make a good fertilizer. Ground 
bone in addition to the ashes and rpa- 
nure, will provide what you want. 
DIBBLE’S SEED OATS 
are early with strong, stiff straw; heavy grain, weighing 
36-40 pounds per bushel, and are enormously productive. 
One ot our own fields of 13 acres produced 91)4 bushels per 
acre of recleaned grain; another of 17 acres, 87 bushels per 
acre; and our average yield for the past six years, growing 
150-200 acres annually, has been over tvnee the average yield 
of the United States for the same period—a record never ap. 
Broached by any other variety. 
Levi Simmons, Lima, N. Y., writes: “From four acres we 
threshed 440 bushels, threshers’ measure.” 
W. H. Swarts, of Allegany County, N. Y., reports “6‘S bag* 
from two bushels sowing, weight about 80 pounds per bag,” 
and C. A. Boyd, Sagerstown, Pa., says: “They yielded just 
ttco bushels where other oats yielded one in the same field.” 
Dibble’s Seed Oats are thoroughly recleaned by the best 
mills known to the trade and are shipped direct from our 
1,600-aere Seed Farms to you at the following low prices: 2)4 
bu. bag. $2.00; 10 bu., $7.50 ; 100 bu.„ $65.00. Bags free. 
Samples and Catalog containing full descriptions, with 
some two score testimonials, FREE. Address 
EDWARD F. DIBBLE, Seedgrower 
Box B HONEOYE FALLS, N. Y. 
Burpee, Philadelphia, 
:an Seed Catal 
Burpee=Quality 
is sufficient for the front 
of a post card. If you will 
write your own address 
_ _ plainly on the other side 
we shall be pleased to send The Leading American Seed Catalog. An elegant book of 174 
pages, it tells the plain truth, and should be read by 
all who would have the best garden possible and 
who are willing to pay a fair price for seeds of the 
You can’t sow thistles and 
reap figs. If you plant 
Ferry s Seeds you 
grow exactly what 
you expect and in 
a profusion 
and perfec- 
tion never 
excelled. 
* $ 
Fifty 
years of 
study and 
experience 
make them re¬ 
liable. For sale 
everywhere. Ferry’s 
1911 Seed Annual 
free on request 1 
D. M. FERRY « CO, 
Detroit, Mich. 
GREGORY’S SEEDS 
90 cents worth for 
25 cents in coin 
Aster, Gregory's Special Fancy Mixture, • • 10c. 
Pansy, Gregory’s Special Fancy Mixture. • 15c. 
Coreopsis, Gregory's Special Fancy Mixture, 05c. 
Poppy, Gregory's Faney Ikmble Mixed Ananala, 10c. 
Mignonette, Gregory's Largo Flowering,eery rUh 10c 
Bachelor Button, Gregory's Finest Mixture, lie. 
Petunia. Gregory’s Finest Hybrid Mixture, • 15c. 
Candytuft, Gregory's Finest Mixed, • . .05c. 
Nasturtium, Dwarf, Finest Mixed, • . • 05c. 
Sweet Peas. Extra Choice Mixed. . . . . 05c. 
10 packages sent for 25c in coin • 
In additiou toabove, will send FIVK 
of our regular FIVE CENT PACK¬ 
AGES of Vegetable seed, our se¬ 
lection, with beautiful Catalogue, it 
this paper is mentioned with order. 
N. GREGORY 8SOW, 157 Elm ST.,MiMiatu, Mass■ 
l pkg. 
1 pkg. 
1 pkg- 
1 pkg. 
1 pkg. 
1 pkg. 
1 pkg. 
I pkg. 
1 pkg. 
1 pkg. 
N. WERTHEIMER & SON 
Choice seeds boughtdireet from the farmer imdsold 
direct to the farmer. We offer yon the choicest 
seeds, doubly recleaned, Medium and Mammoth 
Clover Seed, Alsike, Alfalfa. Timothy, Crimson. 
Clover, White Oiover, Red Top, Orchard (Trass, 
Blue Grass, Lawn Grass, all kinds of Corn, Spring 
and Winter Wheat, Buckwheat, all kinds of Peas. 
Samples and prices sent on application. * * * 
N. WERTHEIMER & SON LIG0NIER, INDIANA 
SEED CORN 
WING'S IMPROVED WHITE CAP will ont- 
yield any other 120-day corn you can put beside It. 
Improved on our farms by ear row test plots for 
15 years. 3 acres have yielded 147 bu.per acre. 
EXCELSIOR, pure white, has yielded 145 bn. 
per acre In test plot. A splendid variety. 
WING’S 120-DAY YELLOW, FUNK’S YEL¬ 
LOW DENT, and REID’S YELLOW DENT. The 
three heaviest yielding yellow varieties in Ohio. 
WING’S 90-DAY YELLOW. A sensation in 
very deep grained, heavy yielding, very early mv 
taring corn. 
A11 onr corn bred b 7 ear row test plots. Write 
today for catalog and information. 
WING SEED CO., Box 423 Mechanlcsburg, O. 
CENT 
SEED 
SALE 
10,000 
Selected - — 
FERTILE SEEDS for 
16 c 
1500 Lettuce 
1 OOO Onion 
J OOO Radish 
1 OO Tomato 
1500 Turnip 
10OO Celery 
100 Parsley 
1500 Rutabaga 
1 OOO Carrot 
100 Melon 
1200 Brilliant Flower Seeds, SOsorts 
Any one of these packages is worth 
the price we-ask for the whole 
10,000 kernels to start with. It is 
merely our way of letting you test 
_ ' our seed—proving to you how 
mighty good they are. 
Send 16 cents in stamps to-day and 
we will send you this great collection of seeds by 
return mail. We'll also mail you absolutely free 
our great catalog for 1911 —all postpaid. 
JOHN A. SALZER SEED CO., 
I 44 South 8 th Street,LaCrosso, WIs. 
NO TIME TO LOSE 
There are Flowers and 
Many Kinds of Plants 
That You Must Attend to 
IN THE SPRING 
NOW IS THE SEASON 
To learn all about the Special Value of 
We are very enthusiastic about having 
you know how our seeds have been care¬ 
fully cultured to germinate and mature in¬ 
to plants that show a real pedigree source. 
We would like to make a catalog of this 
advertisement, but the space does not per¬ 
mit. So we invite you to write us all about 
your garden needs. We will cordially 
respond, and send you our new 144 page 
illustrated catalog free. We are introduc¬ 
ing some seasonable seed "novelties at a 
special packet price. Eschscholtzia 
Thoubttrni (California Poppy) the grand¬ 
est of all Ksehscholtzias. We will mail a 
packet of this valuable novelty and a copy 
of our beautiful catalogue— the Best Seed 
Annual published in America— for only 10 
cents, stamps or coin. (Regular price of 
seed 15 cents packet.) WRITE TODAY. 
J. M.THORBURN & CO. 
Dept. Y 
33 Barclay Street, New York. 
CLOVER•% TIMOTHY Too”* 
Chen pest and Best Seeding Known 
Alsike, Clover and Timothy mixed. Fully Vi Al¬ 
sike. a great bargain. Most wonderful hay and pas¬ 
ture combination that grows. Write for Free Sam¬ 
ple and our large 76-page catalog describing this 
wonderful grass mixture. Far ahead of anything 
you can sow and ridiculously cheap. Be convinced. 
4 . A. Berry Seed Co., Boxseo Clnrinda, Iowa* 
“PRINCE HENRY” Potato. Heavy 
yielding variety of Rural type. Excellent quality, 
grown from selected and Treated seed, choice stock. 
2-bushel sack $1.40, 5 sacks or more $1.30 each. 
CHAMPION BEARDLESS BARLEY, 
Pure and nice. 2 bushels $2.75, lU bushels or more 
$1.30 per bushel. J. N. MacPHEB80N, Pine View 
Farm, Seottsville, N. Y. 
CABBAGE SEED 
New Enkhuizen Glory (the world’s best cab¬ 
bage): extra selected seed, my own importa¬ 
tion. direct from Introducers in Holland, of 
this truly wonderful Cabbage, Lb. $2.50, Oz., 
35 cts., Pkt., 10 cts. E. J. Wakefield, All 
Head Early. Early Summer, Succession, 
Winnigstadt, Surehead, Late Flat Dutch, 
Drumhead, Lb. $1.60, Oz. 20 cts., Pkt. 5cts. 
Postpaid. Write for free Catalog. 
J. AUG. DRAKE, Seedsman 100 Main St. Chester N. J. 
00DSEEDS 
BESTINTHEWORLD 
PRICES BELOW ALL OTHERS 
I give a lot of new sorts for 
trial with every order I fill. 
A Grand Big Catalog CDCC 
Illustrated with over ■ nCC 
^ 700 engravings of vegetables 
and flowers. Send yours and 
your neighbors’ addresses. 
SHUMWAY, Rockford, Illinois 
