622 
THE RUHAIt NEW-VORKER 
Hope Farm Notes 
We left our little tree standing in the 
ground. What then? At Hope Farm 
we have tried some half dozen different 
plans for handling the trees. At one ex¬ 
treme is the sod mulch. One block of 
apple trees was put into the unbroken 
sod seven years ago. There they have 
stood ever since, without any plowing or 
cultivating. Now and then a few fork¬ 
fuls of manure have been thrown around 
them and weeds, waste, stalks, etc., have 
been hauled in and dumped. The grass 
has been cut and about half of it taken 
out as hay—the rest piled around the 
trees. Twice during this time a light 
application of fertilizer has been made 
all over the grass. These trees have 
grown well, and the McIntosh and Ben 
Davis are now well covered with fruit 
buds. The location is on the east side 
of a steep hill—the soil being naturally 
moist. I would suggest this plan on 
moist, natural grass lands where the 
owner is obliged to save labor. I would 
not try it, from our own experience, on 
light or dry soils unless there was some 
way of getting a large supply of man- 
nure or straw to put around the trees. 
In another part of the orchard we be¬ 
gan by plowing a few furrows along 
each side of the row, using the cultivator 
on these strips. These strips can be 
made wider with each year, or the mid¬ 
dles can be left in grass or clover. We 
find that we can leave a strip of rye 
about twenty feet wide in these mid¬ 
dles, cut it for grass and straw and disk 
up the stubble and sow rye again. This 
comes close to paying the cost of work¬ 
ing the trees, or the straw can be used 
for mulching. Hereafter I expect to 
sow Hairy vetch with the rye. The re¬ 
verse of this practise is to plow the mid¬ 
dles and leave strips of sod about 10 
feet wide along the trees. The middles 
can be planted in corn, beans or similar 
crops, while the strips along the rows 
are cut with the scythe—the grass and 
weeds being put around the trees. This 
sod strip method is safer for the trees, 
as there is no danger of barking them 
with the cultivator. On the other hand, 
I think the trees make a little better 
growth when the plowing and cultivating 
is done near them. As our trees are 
headed down very low most plowmen 
do not like to work close to them. 
Either of these plans will work well on 
rough or steep hillsides. The strips of 
low crops along the rows or in the mid¬ 
dles will prevent washing by holding the 
flow of water, the labor is about one- 
third that of “intense culture,” and the 
crops given in the middles will nearly 
pay the cost. 
On another part of the orchard we 
have plowed regularly and planted corn 
in hills. For this purpose we use a 
small, low-growing flint, which rarely 
grows over five feet high and makes 
many small ears. We fertilize this corn 
and give good culture, and usually in 
early August sow a mixture of Crimson 
clover and Cow-horn turnips over the 
field and cultivate it in. What is left 
of this cover crop is plowed under in 
Spring. After a fair trial of this we 
shall give it up. The trees have made 
a fine growth under this treatment, and 
fair crops of corn have been grown, but 
I am convinced that after six years old 
if you are to plow and work the whole 
of an apple orchard von would better 
keep other crops out of it. 
Still another plan is the familiar one 
of plowing the orchard and working it 
constantly through the Summer with the 
Acme or the spring-tooth harrow. We 
have tried that on several fields, and 
there can be no doubt that this form of 
culture drives the trees into growth. We 
have also various modifications of the 
above plans. As the result of about 
ten years’ observation our plans this 
year will be about as follows: Within 
three weeks after planting the little 
trees we expect to plow four or five 
furrows on each side of the rows and 
keep these strips cultivated. If we can 
find time for it before the middle of June 
the middles will also be plowed and 
white beans or cow peas planted in hills. 
They will be cultivated—the vines later 
being put around the trees as a mulch. 
All the rest of our orchards are in sod 
or in rye. The older trees will be left 
in sod with such manure as we have put 
on and fertilizer added. The grass will 
mostly be left on the ground. On the 
hill among the rye we shall plow five 
or six feet on each side of the tree rows, 
cultivate thoroughly on this strip and let 
the rye go to grain—disk the stubble 
and sow vetch and rye all over—up to 
the trees. We have settled upon this 
plan as best for our situation. On two 
blocks of trees we shall try “intense cul¬ 
ture” still further. One is a block of 
peach trees—the other mixed peach and 
apple. These will be plowed early and 
then worked up to August, when rye and 
vetch will be seeded. We have demon¬ 
strated, I think, that on moist, natural 
grass lands a good apple orchard can 
be developed from the sod without any 
cultivation whatever. This can also be 
done on lighter lands where it is possible 
to get manure, straw or trash to pile 
around the trees. On many of our 
eastern farms this mulching material is 
hard to find, and on thin old land grass 
is scanty. In order to practise mulch¬ 
ing successfully you must have a sod 
almost like a lawn, and you cannot get 
that on thin, shallow hill soil without 
the most careful culture and heavy feed¬ 
ing. We have worked to develop what 
may be called a “rough and ready 
orchard,” and we find that on this one 
hilly farm no single system can be said 
to be best for all conditions. 
As for fertilizers, probably the simplest 
plan would be to use a standard mixture 
of three parts of fine ground bone to one 
of sulphate of potash. Then, if the tree 
does not grow as it ought to, add nitrate 
of soda as needed. I could not tell how 
much to use to a tree—we go pretty 
much by the tree’s general appearance. 
The bone meal and potash will usually 
be enough for a tree up to five or six 
years old, on fair soil. If it does not 
grow and looks dumpy and light-colored 
add nitrate, but be sure this dull condi¬ 
tion is not due to borers or scale or 
disease, for all the nitrate that ever was 
mined will not overcome these things. 
An ideal way for a farmer or fruit 
grower to feed his crops is to provide 
all) or nearly all, of his needed organic 
nitrogen from the farm by growing 
clover, peas or beans, vetch or Alfalfa. 
In that case he will need to try only 
nitrate to give quick growth when 
needed. In phosphoric acid we have a 
wide- range in bone, acid phosphate and 
basic slag. I like ground bone, but it 
is expensive and more or less adul¬ 
terated. Acid phosphate is soluble and 
is particularly good for use on the soil, 
since the trees must have something that 
will dissolve and be carried into the soil 
at once. That is why a mixture of acid 
phosphate, nitrate and potash is usually 
preferred in soil culture. All these 
chemicals are soluble, and they will get 
down. One objection to acid phosphate 
is that it is sour, and continued use of it 
adds to the acid in the soil. In our 
country we have too much of this now. 
That is one reason why bone is better, 
and in many localities basic slag is 
better yet, for it contains a large amount 
of lime, and will sweeten the soil. I 
would rather use the slag on cultivated 
orchards, for it will prove more satis¬ 
factory when worked into the soil rather 
than left on top. Sulphate of potash 
costs more than the muriate, but in the 
long run for fruit growers I think it will 
pay to use sulphate. This is especially 
true where your soil needs lime, or 
where you are using lime, for the muriate 
will combine to take the lime out of the 
soil. For the little tree set this year on 
poor ground we shall throw a good- 
sized handful around each tree — not 
close up, but in a spread of two feet. 
Then hoe or cultivate in, and if you 
can get weeds, manure, sods—trash of 
any sort—put it around the trees. When 
you come to mulch the large young trees 
do not pile the stuff close up around the 
trunk. Get it out, away from them 
where it is needed. In weeding straw¬ 
berries and garden crops we put the 
weeds in baskets or crates and dump it 
all around the trees. 
When it comes to pruning we shall 
do little of it this year, since the seven- 
teen-year locusts are upon us. Later I 
will show some pictures of our trees 
which will illustrate pruning better than 
I can describe it. This promises to be 
a good apple year with us and we have 
arsenate of lead for the Codling worm 
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