1883 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
397 
A Mew Orchard, 
There is no more profitable use to which a farmer 
can devote a share of his land than to orchard 
planting. If he intends the fruit for his own use 
only, it will be in the best sense of the word profit¬ 
able, as it will bring health, comfort, and enjoy¬ 
ment. Many plant trees without properly consid¬ 
ering the varieties, and then, grudging the land 
thus occupied, ask of it, what is required of no 
other field upon the farm, viz., that it shall annually 
support two crops, the trees and grass, grain, or 
something else, which usually has the land all to 
itself. This treatment is mainly the cause of the 
“ giving out ” of fruit, about which we hear in the 
older States. While we advocate the planting of or¬ 
chards, we have too much regard for trees to wish 
them to be submitted to such treatment. Unless 
one can be content with one crop from his land, 
and be willing to give it up to the trees, be had 
better not plant them. Of course, while the trees 
are young, a wide strip between the rows may be 
properly occupied by a crop, but when they come 
into bearing, the trees should have the whole laud, 
and all crops, such as clover,and other pasturage for 
pigs, should be grown for the benefit of the trees. 
An orchard, properly treated, may be made profita¬ 
ble if the fruit is sold, dried or “evaporated,” or con¬ 
verted into cider and vinegar. There is no better 
time to prepare an orchard than during this and 
the next month, whether the planting is to be done 
this fall or next spring. The most important work 
of preparation is drainage. Trees are sometimes 
planted upon soil that is too wet, with the inten¬ 
tion of laying the drains afterwards. It is much 
better to drain before planting, as the convenient 
time for laying the drains may not occur for 
years, and the trees, having made their early 
growth in an unsuitable soil, can never be com¬ 
pletely restored. Very poor land may require 
manuring, but if sufficiently fertile for the ordi¬ 
nary crops of the farm, it is rich enough. Thor¬ 
ough plowing, with a breaking up of the subsoil, 
is of more importance than manure. Even if 
the trees are to be planted in spring, much time 
may be saved by laying out the ground, placing a 
small stake to indicate the place for each tree. 
-«&•»--- 
Wheat—How Much Seed per Acre 1 
J. M. STAHL. 
It is the common practice in this country to sow 
from one and one-half to two and one-half bushels 
of wheat per acre. This is doubtless a relic of the 
agriculture of the time spoken of in Scripture. 
For surely a man must be supposed to make some 
allowance for birds, stony ground, and thistles 
when he scatters two bushels of wheat on an acre. 
He must sow on somewhat the same principle that 
the early Illinois settlers planted corn, who put in 
a hill: two srrains for worms, two for moles, two for 
squirrels, three for crows and blackbirds, and three 
to grow. Two bushels of seed wheat was the 
proper amount when men plowed with a stick and 
seeded with two sticks. It may not have been too 
much when, as was the case scarcely more than a 
half century ago, the ground was poorly plowed 
with a wooden mold-board plow, pulverized with a 
straight-toothed wooden harrow, and the seed 
sown broadcast and covered with a brush. Better 
implements, better knowledge, better methods, 
better culture, have made less and less seed requi¬ 
site. Among the essentials cf complete germination 
may be mentioned fineness and firmness of the 
seed-bed, and an equable distribution of its mois¬ 
ture and heat. These conditions did not exist in 
the seed-bed fifty years ago, and are not found in 
perfection in the seed-bed to-day. The ground is 
now thoroughly plowed to begin with, and the use 
of spring-tooth and disc barrows, of drags and 
iron rollers, makes it very fine and firm. The more 
homogenous the soil, the more equable will be 
its moisture and the more uniform its temperature. 
A half century ago, much seed was wasted by 
the manner of sowing. It was thrown by hand, 
and not evenly distributed. It was harrowed or 
brushed in, which covered some seed six inches 
deep, and left some uncovered. The strong crowd¬ 
ed out the weak, and an additional waste resulted. 
The force-feed drill distributes the grain evenly 
and covers it to a uniform depth. Hence less seed 
is required. At that time much more was winter 
killed. The grain did not make a vigorous growth, 
because its food was difficult to obtain. The 
grouud, loose and lumpy, rose and fell more by 
the action of frost than now, when it is fine and 
firm. There were no ridges to protect the wheat 
as now, when the drill is used. The use of fertil¬ 
izers, to insure a vigorous growth in the autumn, 
was not so common. Then considerable grain did 
fall where it had not much earth, and some fell 
among thorns. Farmers are now careful to make 
more earth by better culture and the use of fertil¬ 
izers ; and each year they wage war against thorns 
and weeds that might choke out the wheat. There 
is less seed lost in this way now than formerly. 
Wheat is a wonderfully prolific grain when it has 
a chance. A grain produces but one plant. But 
wheat “tillers,” and many stalks are formed 
from the one plant. Where wheat is not crowded, 
is in a fairly rich soil, and the tillering is not im¬ 
peded, the average number of stems for each 
plant is sixteen. Each one produces a head or 
ear, containing on an average, under reasonably 
favorable conditions, fifty grains. Thus one grain 
yields eight hundred grains. At this rate, the man 
who sows two bushels to the acre, would harvest 
sixteen hundred bushels per acre, or else much of 
the seed is lost. The average yield of the couutry, 
however, is less than fifteen bushels per acre. A 
bushel of wheat contains, ordinarily, seven hun¬ 
dred and fifty thousand grains ; two bushels, one 
million five hundred thousand grains. An acre of 
land contains slightly above six million square 
inches. So that each plant has four square inches 
from which to derive sustenance. Measure that on 
the ground, and see how small it is. Can you ex¬ 
pect the plant to make a vigorous growth on four 
square inches ? Can you expect it to tiller and 
produce sixteen stems ? Can you expect it to ma¬ 
ture sixteen full heads ? The result of this crowd¬ 
ing is plain. The plants can not gain nutriment 
when growing so densely. Some must die that 
the others may live. The strong triumph and the 
weak succumb. This struggle for life begins as 
soon as the plants appear above ground. As the 
plants grow larger, they require more room, and 
others must give way, and very few, if any, attain 
a full growth. All are cramped and starved. Till¬ 
ering is impeded ; many plants do not tiller at all, 
and those that do, tiller imperfectly. The same Is 
true of earing. Full ears can not he expected. 
An acre of wheat contains about eight hundred 
thousand heads. It is safe to say that, on account 
of tillering, these are produced by three hundred 
thousand plants. Consequently, only one-fifth of 
the grains sown produce mature plants ; these 
plants produce less than one-fifth of the proper 
number of stems by tillering, and these produce 
imperfect heads. This is almost entirely caused 
by crowding. 
Two quarts of seed sown on an aerp have pro¬ 
duced fifty bushels of wheat. Where all the con¬ 
ditions are favorable, the American farmer should 
not sow more than half a bushel per acre. But 
agricultural reforms are never sweeping; there¬ 
fore let the wheat-grower try one bushel per acre. 
A Milking Stool Attachment. 
This illustration shows the milking stool used 
by A. S. H., of Lapeer, Mich. It is a common 
three-legged stool, with a pail holder fastened to 
the legs two inches from the ground. It is made 
from #-inch strips, and there are notches cut in 
the legs to l'eceive the frame for holding the pail. 
Diseases of Quince Trees. 
TV. W. MEECH. 
There are three diseases of quince trees. A 
blight, closely resembling the well-known pear 
blight, is readily known by the leaves withering 
and turning black in the season of most rapid 
growth. Sometimes it is confined to the tender 
twigs, in other cases it shows itself in patches' 
along the branches, or the entire bark is discolored 
and shrivelled. If we cut through the bark, the 
wood is found to be dead and hard, like wood sea¬ 
soned a long time. This often envelops the main 
trunk in whole or in part. If the tree consists of 
several trunks, as is common with the quince, some 
die down to the collar, while others appear unaffect¬ 
ed. At first I tried cutting out and burning all the 
affected parts, as soon after the appearance of the 
blight as possible. But the disease so soon ap- 
appeared in other parts of the trees, that it kept 
me very busy, and some trees died in spite of all 
my care. Afterwards 1 tried salt, which was sown 
broadcast as far as the roots of the trees extended. 
I did this about the time the buds opened, and 
that year there was very little blight. The next. 
year I salted all my trees, 
and was happy in not see¬ 
ing any blight at all. The 
trees upon which there 
were patches of blight on. 
the limbs, or the trunks of 
which were affected, showed a disposition to cover 
the diseased places with new growth. • Several 
years of this experience have convinced me that 
this annual salting in the spring is a preventive of 
the blight. For trees two or three years old, I 
use about a pint of salt, and increase the quantity 
as the trees grow larger. A caution is in place 
here : over-salting is as ruinous as judicious salting 
is beneficial. I use salt for my pear trees in the 
same way, and I have not had any blight among 
them for as many years as they have been salted. 
Another disease of the quince is a very destruc¬ 
tive fungus, known to science as the Bcestilia au- 
rantiaca. It affects the leaves with red spots, that 
multiply and enlarge until the foliage of the tree 
becomes unsightly, and finally the leaves fall to 
the ground. It requires a magnifying glass to see 
the fungus on these spots. Not so with the stems 
and fruit. On these it shows itself as a reddish 
powder, easily seen. Wherever these orange- 
colored spores are wafted by the wind, they carry 
the disease to both stems and fruit. The period of 
its destructiveness is confined to the time when 
the growing fruit and stems are quite tender. If 
the stem lives and grows in spite of the attack, it 
will exhibit an enlarged and spongy growth, fig¬ 
ure 1. After the fruit grows to about the size 
of a hen’s egg, it seems to be beyond the attacks. 
The effects of this disease are often seen in the 
little dried-up quinces that stay on the tips of the 
dead twigs, and become almost black in winter. 
A cross section of the diseased part is shown in 
figure 2. This disease lias discouraged quince-grow¬ 
ers. Gathering and burning all affected fruits aud 
twigs is an effective remedy. A third form of disease 
is caused by a fungus , Marthiera Mespili, which at- 
! tacks the leaves,giving them a blotched appearance. 
Jim 
Fig. 2. 
