4^6 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
April 1, 
results, thus establishing the proper time for his own 
soil and conditions. A standardized thermometer will 
also add to the interest of the work. The thermometer 
can be introduced into the soil under the pan, at the 
end of the pan, by digging a temporary small pit. 
SOWING THE SEED.—The writer found that by 
separating the tobacco seed, using only the heavy seed, 
it was necessary to use less than ordinarily used, and 
to sow it more accurately in order to prevent too 
thick a stand of plants. The advantage of the use of 
heavy seed has been set forth so many times by the 
writer since his invention of a practical tobacco or 
other small seed separator, and its practical value 
proved so many times, that it is not necessary to re- 
pcate the matter here. 
ADVANTAGES OF STEAM STERILIZATION.— 
1. The weed seeds are killed, thus tfoing away en¬ 
tirely and absolutely with the laborious, painful and 
expensive weeding of beds. It would pay to steam 
sf'ed bed soils for this purpose alone in the opinion of 
the writer. 
2. It destroys the root rot and other fungus diseases, 
a matter of increasing importance in all of the older 
t bacco growing regions. 
3. It improves the tilth and condition of the soil, 
requiring less water for watering the soil,, and 
obviates largely the danger from over watering. 
4. The steam sterilized soils produce better plants 
than soils not steam sterilized. This result was noted 
from the first by the writer, but the cause has just re¬ 
cently been explained by the director of the Rotham- 
sted Experiment Station, England. In an article on 
the subject of steam sterilization the director recently 
recites an extensive set of experiments at his stations, 
where it was found that the steaming process de¬ 
stroyed certain organisms in soils that prevent the de¬ 
velopment of plant food in soils, and provides more 
favorable conditions for the development of the plant 
food, to the end that plants on steam sterilized soils 
grow more vigorously than on soils not steamed. 
5. The better plants in the seed beds grown in 
steamed soils produce better plants in the field, as 
shown by several practical field demonstrations ob¬ 
served by the writer. The healthy seedlings are more 
able to resist disease in the field, utilize the plant food 
in the soil, and develop into normal, healthy plants. 
The writer feels that no community of tobacco grow¬ 
ers can afford to neglect trying this method of treating 
seed beds. It can doubtless be used for other soils 
used for growing young seedlings, e. g., cabbage, toma¬ 
toes, or greenhouse soils for growing flowers, vege¬ 
tables, etc., with equally beneficial results. 
A. D. SHAMEL. 
PEDIGREE TREES OR BUD SELECTION. 
I was much interested in the article by W. J. Wright, 
of Pennsylvania State College, page 165, on this sub¬ 
ject. Although I agree in the main with the writer, I 
think he failed to give due credit to the fact that 
cither through environment or originally through bud 
variation, and I have little faith except in the last, a 
strain of Baldwin or other variety may be developed 
by a careful grower really superior to the variety as 
generally put on the market. I grow a fine type of 
Williams Red, and all my trees trace back to one 
original tree, which always bears very red fruit. In 
the Boston market a few years since I saw some fine 
Somerset apples, and wrote the shipper in Maine for 
scions. He was not the grower, but I received later 
scions through his aid. They bore last season, but 
proved to be Williams, and although under conditions 
of similar growth of quite a different type from mine, 
being more striped and somewhat later in ripening. 
Of course one swallow does not make a Summer; I 
shall watch that tree for a few seasons with interest. 
I have had on my own trees a number of instances of 
bud variations, in some cases producing practically a 
different variety of apple, and I have a number of 
ihose sports grafted or budded and now bearing fruit. 
I see no reason why a sport might not as easillv im¬ 
prove a variety, and if used for propagating purposes 
improve the strain of that variety as far as used. That 
some superior trees have been produced that way I 
have no doubt, yet in the general orchard, location, 
care and feeding are the chief factors in variations in 
fruits. Although I got bitten with the top-budding 
fad, which had a run a few years since, I feel I have 
really learned something from my experience, al¬ 
though I now have a couple of hundred or so to 
graft which I failed to find time to bud. One thing I 
have never seen mentioned is that from my experi¬ 
ence I feel that more really first-class fruit can be 
produced on fillers by growing both an early and 
late variety on the same tree. Of course I do not 
recommend this for the commercial orchard or large 
trees, but only for those who thin and wish to grow 
high-priced fruit in a limited way, and I am not ready 
to say that more fruit can be grown, but I have grown 
some fine fruit that way in a limited amount. 
Worcester Co., Mass. h. o. mead. 
HAIRY VETCH IN A PEACH ORCHARD. 
I have had experience with Hairy vetch for a mulch 
and fertilizer in a peach orchard. Five years ago last 
Fall I sowed my peach orchard to vetch, intending to 
plow it under the following Summer, but for some 
reason did not plow it under. The whole orchard was 
one solid mass of purple bloom, the stalks were three 
and four feet long, and the whole crop went to seed. 
The following Spring I plowed it under, and I kept 
the orchard well worked until the limbs were bending 
to the ground with fruit. After 1 quit cultivating 
and harrowed it down smooth the vetch came in 
thick and got a good start for the Winter, and the 
following May the vetch was up a foot or more high, 
which I plowed under again, and I followed that up 
for four different Summers. Although it did not come 
in last Fall quite as thick as before, there will be a lot 
to turn under again. I intend to sow it over next 
Fall and let the first crop go to seed, and that will 
self-seed for four years more. I think there is nothing 
to equal vetch for a mulch, and also it makes a good 
fertilizer. D. L. reed. 
Mason Co., Mich. 
A HORSE DEAL IN CONNECTICUT. 
Mr. Morse’s article on page 89 brings to mind the 
locally famous “Knowl Reward” case • which for the 
last 10 years has attracted much attention from horse¬ 
men and lawyers. Ten or 12 years ago a very smooth 
and optimistic talking gentleman arrived in Norwich, 
Conn., as the agent of a man in New York State 
who made a business of selling horses to joint stock 
companies. This genial promoter set at work with 
wining and dining and arts designing to form the 
Knowl Reward Stock Company, which was to consist 
of 27 shares of $100 each, to be paid either in cash 
or in three joint and several notes, maturing in one, 
A WHITE FACED BEEF-MAKEK. Fit;. HI. 
two and three years respectively. Good profits could 
be figured, and the scheme met with favor among the 
horsemen of Norwich and vicinity, and it looked like 
an easy trick to turn, but, as luck would have it, the 
gay promoter did not build his woodpile quite big 
enough to conceal all the clever darkies that he 
wished to hide in it. One off-color proposition that 
made trouble arose from the fact that he secured 
several signatures to his notes and contracts by agree¬ 
ment with the different parties that each should have 
the opportunity of boarding and caring for the horse 
at a profitable figure. The date was fixed for form¬ 
ing the joint stock company, and the affair was to 
take place in the “swellest” hotel in the city, with 
banquet, champagne, etc., galore. Unfortunately for 
best-laid plans, the several parties who had been 
promised* the opportunity of keeping the horse were 
allowed a chance for conference and found that mak¬ 
ing a joint stock horse was a different proposition 
from forming a joint stock horse company. The cry 
of treachery went up, and a lively quarrel was in 
progress. The champagne was not spilled. The com¬ 
pany was not formed. The genial promoter had got 
in his work, however. He had sold some shares for 
cash, and had secured good signatures to his notes. 
He had taken some padders and fillers, but several of 
the men whose names appeared were financially re¬ 
sponsible. The local banks refused to negotiate the 
notes, however, and they were disposed of to a busi¬ 
ness man in a neighboring city. Knowl Reward in 
the meantime was in the care of a local liveryman 
and was disposed of as far as the promoter was con¬ 
cerned, but was not yet the property of the Knowl 
Reward Stock Company because the company was 
never organized. A horse without an owner has as 
few friends as a man without a country, and while no 
one knew but what Knowl Reward was one of the best 
stock horses in the country he was sold at auction 
in the public square to pay his board bill. Although 
big fish are desirable to catch they are harder to hold, 
and when the holder of the notes attempted to collect 
his money he was met by a stubborn defense at law. 
For year legal battle has waged, and the end is not 
yet. j. g. 
Norwich, Conn. 
DISHORNING OLD APPLE TREES. 
Not long since I saw a question in The R. N.-Y. 
as to the practicability of cutting off large limbs' from 
old trees for the purpose of getting them down within 
“spraying reach.” Some 15 to 18 years ago we had a 
Baldwin orchard which had reached from 40 to 50 
feet in height. I once showed Prof. Roberts this or¬ 
chard and asked him what to do with these mammoth 
trees. His advice was to cut them down and plant a 
new orchard. It was almost impossible to spray them 
thoroughly, and the apples cost for picking almost as 
much as they were worth. I decided to cut the tops 
back, but I was told that to cut off these large limbs, 
many from six to 10 inches in diameter, would cause 
them to sun-scald and kill the trees. However, I de¬ 
cided to take the risk and make a thorough job. I 
cut them down to about 20 feet; as said before, many 
limbs cut off were as large as good-sized trees. We 
did this in early Spring and painted all cuts with a 
thick paint of “iron ore paint” and raw linseed oil, 
making it as stiff as it could be put on. The trees 
threw out a new growth all along the limbs. These I 
had properly thinned the following Spring, leaving 
only such as were wanted to form a new top. These 
trees acted just like grafted trees, and the third 
year put on a fine crop of apples, and it has produced 
well ever since. I was talking with the man now on 
the farm only a short time since and asked him how 
those old' trees were now doing. He said that they 
had a fine crop of splendid apples the past Summer. 
When these trees were first cut back they were the 
laughing stock of all our neighbors, and I must admit 
a sorry sight, and I have always been sorry I did not 
have them phofographed. Since then I have never 
hesitated to cut back apple orchards so as to keep 
them down within easy reach with spraying machinery. 
j. s. WOODWARD. 
AN EXPERIENCE WITH LIME. 
On page 163 I read with much interest the articles 
on lime, closing with a request for personal experi¬ 
ence of farmers who have been using the different 
forms of lime. 1 have been using lime for several 
years, burned lime exclusively, but in three different 
forms, viz., chunk lime spread with shovel after 
being slaked with water, hydrated and ground lime 
burned but not slaked. The latter kinds were drilled 
on wheat or rye land a few days before sowing the 
grain, and although the lime spread with shovel 
brought good returns for the investment (40 to 50 
bushels per acre unslaked were used), I have had 
quicker and just as good results from as little as 
500 pounds per acre hydrated lime put on with grain 
drill. The greatest object lesson 1 have ever nad 
was this last season, and came about as one o7 my 
experiments. In the Spring of 1908 I started to 
plow an old clay and gravel field for buckwheat. A 
back furrow was started in middle of field, plowed 
V/t acre, and finding the ground so hard and dry 
that it was impossible to do good work, we decided 
to wait for rain, but the rain did not come, so the 
l l /2 acre was put in condition and sowed to buck¬ 
wheat, which was almost an entire failure on ac¬ 
count of drought. After the crop was removed I 
found the ground nice and mellow for that kind of 
land. The land was spring-toothed each way, then 
300 pounds hydrated lime was drilled the opposite 
way from which the rye was to be sown; 250 
pounds 1-9-3 fertilizer per acre, but when I only 
had about two more rounds with the drill to finish I 
ran out of fertilizer. 1 had more at the barn, but 
as there were several more sacks of the lime in the 
wagon I concluded to experiment, as usual. I set 
the drill for 300 pounds lime and finished the little 
field, 250 pounds fertilizer, 300 pounds lime per acre, 
except two rounds of drill, which had 600 pounds 
lime and no fertilizer. Timothy was sown in Fall 
with grain, clover in Spring. Rye was harvested in 
1909; could see little if any difference in rye, but 
when the clover came on last Summer I had the 
benefit of my experiment, for just where the fertilizer 
ran out the clover ceased to grow, the clover fol¬ 
lowing out the individual tubes of the drill that 
contained the most fertilizer. The clover was fine, 
lodged in places, would have cut two large loads 
of fine clover hay, but having enough elsewhere the 
Guernseys made the hay for us, but as they did not 
have access to it until July they trampled nearly as 
much down as they ate, and left a fine mulch on the 
ground favorable for the second crop, which went 
in Winter quarters looking fine. As this field had 
been frequently fertilized and seeded to clover with¬ 
out results it proved to my entire satisfaction that 
lime without fertility or fertility without lime is not 
a balanced ration for clover. w. a. b. 
Columbia Co., Pa. 
