1911. 
<ql'he; rural new-yorkeb 
■460 
A LIGHT FRUIT LADDER. 
At Fig. 159 1st a cut of a safety ladder 
for the benefit of fruit growers. Take 
1 14 x3-ineh white pine clear of flaws for 
sides, and 1x3 for steps, as they are bettor 
to stand on than rounds; nail blocks for 
them to rest on, and to keep it from spread¬ 
ing put a small rod under every third step, 
or wire will do; double and twist it. Take 
LIGHT FRUIT LADDER. Fig. 159. 
a solid piece four feet long for the “snout" ; 
bolt tins with two %-inch bolts, with 
wedges to make it solid. This makes a 
much lighter and handier ladder than the 
old straight one. You put the snout in 
the fork of a limb and there is no slipping 
or turning, nor knocking the fruit off. I 
use different lengths to suit the tree. I 
use step ladders for small trees. I use 
lime and sulphur with a power sprayer; 
that keeps the trees in good condition. 
Palestine, O. H. H. 
Investing in an Orchard. 
Will you advise me what you consider 
the chances are for a man to buy apple 
orchards in the Northwest and if the in¬ 
vestment in your opinion is safe? I have 
been much interested in a proposition made 
by a land concern wherebj they contract to 
plant 40 trees to the acre, care for same 
and at the end of five years turn them 
over to the buyer. The price of the planted 
orchards is $525 per acre, which includes 
the planting and care. At that price a 10- 
acre orchard, counting interest, taxes, etc., 
at the time of bearing, would cost about 
$8,000, without any buildings. The point 
I wish to bring out is, would you advise 
the buying of a good bearing orchard, say 
in Virginia, buildings and all complete, 
which, I am told, can be bought for about 
the same money as the Idaho land costs? 
I realize that there is a difference in or¬ 
chards, buildings, etc., but don’t you think 
that for $ 8,000 or $ 10,000 a good bearing 
orchard can be bought in the South, where 
the profits would be just as large and the 
risk much less? a. a. 
The II. N.-Y. has steadily advised against 
an investment in companies which offer to 
plant orchards in any such way. For some 
years we have publicly challenged any such 
company to come forward and show where 
the small investor has made anything out 
of it. It might be possible to do such 
work, but in our judgment the chances for 
getting a bearing orchard in Virginia or in 
New England or Pennsylvania, if the. trees 
are of good variety and in fair condition, 
would appeal to us„as an investment rather 
than some unplanted orchard far away. But 
no matter where the orchard is, do not 
touch it until some expert who is disin¬ 
terested goes and looks it all over. You 
would not buy land unless a good lawyer 
looked up the records and proved the title 
O. K. You would not put $8,000 into the 
grocery business or into manufacturing un¬ 
less some accountant or expert pronounced 
it right. Do not think of buying an or¬ 
chard until some practical farmer and fruit 
grower I 00 L 3 it over and guarantees it. 
Pay him for his services as you would a 
lawyer. 
Powder Refuse. 
What is the fertilizing value of “potash 
salt” or refuse from powder making fac¬ 
tories? 
The refuse from potash mills is quite 
variable in composition. Samples which 
our Station has analyzed contain, approxi¬ 
mately, one-quarter of a per cent, of pitro- 
gen and about three-quarters of a per cent, 
of potash. I should place a maximum 
value on this material of $2 per ton; I 
should not care to pay more for it. 
N. J Exp. ^Ration, jacob g. livman. 
AN ALFALFA SERMON. 
In 1904 I bought a piece of ground that 
was in very poor condition, due to im¬ 
proper management and cultivation. A part 
of this tract lies along a wood lot, but about 
two-thirds is along cultivated land. That 
part lying along the wood lot was in wheat, 
while the remainder was a field which had 
not been cultivated for a number of years. 
That lyin' 1 ' along the cultivated land I put 
in po‘ following y. nr I 
the fields and put both parts in corn. After 
the corn was off I seeded to wheat. For 
the potatoes I manured the land and used 
a good grade of commercial fertilizer. The 
following Spring I manured all the land 
again for corn and applied a complete fer¬ 
tilizer. With the wheat I drilled in the 
fertilizer again at the rate of 500 pounds 
to the acre. This brought me a fair crop 
of wheat, about 25 bushels per acre. On 
July 4 and 5 I plowed the land, on the 
6 th I harrowed and dragged it four or 
five times. After that date I failed only 
one week to work on the ground, and that 
week it was too wet until August 11. IIow 
often I harrowed I cannot tell, but I am 
sure not less than 20 times. During this 
time I put on lime at the rate of about 
30 bushels to the acre, and a light coat of 
manure; both of which were thoroughly 
worked into the soil by the frequent bar- 
rowings. During the night of August 10 
we had a light shower; the next morning it 
was too wet to work in the ground, but 
in the afternoon I sowed the Alfalfa at the 
rate of about 20 pounds per acre. Just as 
I finished we had another nice shower. 
This was about two o’clock on Saturday. 
On Monday at four o’clock (50 hours) I 
found a large per cent, of it up. It grew 
nicely all Fall, and by the middle of Sep¬ 
tember it was from eight to 10 inches high 
when I clipped it. It will be noticed that 
we had ideal weather all Fall, which ac¬ 
counts for the remarkably quick germina¬ 
tion as well as the fine growth made that 
season. 
The following season. 1907, I had one 
fine crop—the first cutting. , As I cut it 
as a soiling crop each year up to 1910 I 
can give ,no estimate of the amount cut. 
After the first cutting we had a very dry 
spell, which lasted during the whole grow¬ 
ing season, so that I did not get much of a 
crop afterwards. Early in August I noticed 
that that part which lies along the wood 
lot was turning yellow. I was advised by 
a professor from an agricultural college to 
harrow it. This I did August 10. 1 was 
assured that the harrowing would stop the 
yellows. But it did no such thing. On 
the contrary it kept on getting worse and 
worse. After a while I noticed that the 
other part was getting yellow also. Na¬ 
turally I thought it was due to want of 
inoculation, but frequently examinations 
convinced me that there were enough 
nodules on the roots. Later, in the Fall, 
one of the _professors of Pennsylvania State 
Uollege visited me and he assured me that 
there wore plenty of bacteria on the roots. 
The following year (1908) there was a 
repetition of the year before; one good 
crop, the rest partial failures, due to want 
of moisture. But now harrowing showed 
its good results. The part harrowed was 
much better than the part not harrowed; 
not only this but where I had harrowed 
there were no weeds nor other grasses to 
be found. In July of that year, simply 
ns aii experiment. I sowed a fertilizer con¬ 
taining two per cent of potash and 10 per 
cent of phosphoric acid crosswise over the 
patch at two different places, fl'he follow¬ 
ing Spring these places could be seen from 
a distance. That Spring I manured the 
whole piece, except one narrow strip, with 
barnyard manure. I again cut a fine first 
crop, but again we had a dry season, and 
tin 1 other cuttings were a failure, so much 
so that some of It I did not cut at all 
after the first time. The part cut only 
once produced some seed, and contrary to 
general belief, it did not seem to hurt it a 
hit. I now sold all my cows, and had no 
more use for a soiling crop, so last season 
I cut it for hay. As the season was late I 
did not cut until June 23. This crop was 
a good one, except the strip not manured 
the previous year, which was almost an en¬ 
tire failure. The latter part of July I cut 
the second crop, which made about one ton 
to the acre. This small crop was again 
due to want of rain. After the first cut¬ 
ting was off we had no rain until Fall, 
and of course I got no crop worth cutting 
after the second one. The Fall rains, how¬ 
ever, revived it again so that there is a 
good prospect for the future. 
I have thus described my experience 
rather minutely for the purpose of draw¬ 
ing certain conclusions. First, while all 
conditions must be right, such as drain¬ 
age, proper preparation of the seed bed. a 
sweet soil, good seed, etc., yet all these 
will avail nothing if there is not enough 
moisture in the soil. Later experiences 
have convinced me that failure to get a 
stand is due to want of moisture as often 
as to any other cause. Second, inocula¬ 
tion may be necessary in many places. 
With me it was not. The nearest to my 
place Alfalfa had been grown was five 
miles. I used no inoculation, nor is there 
any Sweet clover growing in the commun¬ 
ity. Again later experience has shown that 
other lands I own do not need inoculation. 
Cultivation is as necessary as inoculation. 
By thorough harrowing not only can the 
weeds be kept down but the yield can be 
largely increased; an old-fashioned spike 
harrow is as good as any other implement 
provided it is well sharpened and well 
weighted. Alfalfa turning yellow is not al¬ 
ways, if ever, a sign of disease, but is due 
to want of moisture. The general opinion 
that Alfalfa will do well on dry soils or in 
dry seasons is not my experience. On the 
other hand, it requires as much rain as 
clover or any of the grasses. A fertile 
soil, with proper attention in seeding and 
proper care afterwards by good cultiva¬ 
tion and good feeding, makes it one of the 
best paying crops a farmer can raise. 
Pennsylvania. e. b. g. 
TOWN 
*vi 
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Gets There 
First? 
You or Your Neighbor with a Telephone? 
The farmer with a telephone avoids unnecessary trips—he 
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knows his market. If you haven’t a telephone, by all means 
get one. 
But be sure your telephone is a 
Westmi'Ekttm 
Rural Telephone 
—the most reliable of all telephones. Made by the largest 
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designed for rural service. 
Sign the coupon foe booklet describing Wes¬ 
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'SAVE TIME AND EREIGKT 
TFlEPHOPiE OUR NEAREST HOUSE* 
Natives digging and loading asphalt at Trinidad Lake 
All “asphalt roofing” is not 
Trinidad Lake Asphalt Roof¬ 
ing—there’s a great big dif¬ 
ference. Look out for that 
when you buy your roofing. 
Ordinary so-called asphalt roof¬ 
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masquerading as real asphalt. 
They are nothing more than the 
residue from petroleum oil or na¬ 
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pitch, which is easily affected by 
changes in weather. 
Genasco 
the Trinidad-Lake-Asphalt Roofing 
is made of genuine natural asphalt— 
perfectly stable and uniform in quality. 
Trinidad Lake Asphalt is endowed by 
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in it. This gives Genasco its wonderful 
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and cold—and keeps it lastingly water¬ 
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The artificial asphalts have oils mixed 
with them, but they haven’t the quality 
of the oils in the natural product; and 
they soon evaporate and leave the roof¬ 
ing “dead”—and it cracks, breaks and 
leaks, although at the first it may look 
like Genasco, the real Trinidad-Lake- 
Asphalt roofing. 
To make sure of roofing that will per¬ 
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Genasco, the Trinidad-Lake-Asphalt 
Roofing, with either mineral or smooth 
surface. Fully guaranteed. 
The Kant-leak Kleet waterproofs the seams 
of Genasco Roofing without cement, does away 
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Write for samples and the Good Roof Guide 
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Largest producers of asphalt, and largest 
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Cross-section Genasco Model Roofing 
s Crushed Quartz 
_Trinidad Lake Asphalt 
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3 Trinidad Lake Asphalt 
Asphalt-saturated Burlap 
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arming 
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CAROLINA 
COAST 
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AN IDEAL FARM 
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