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AN APPLE ORCHARD IN NEW ENGLAND. 
E. M. S., Aorth Hampton, N. H .—It is 
my iatontion to plow an apple orchard of 
about two acres, although the trees will 
not all be set out the first year. The trees 
will be set out in rectangles, 20 by 34 
feet eight inches. The permanent trees are 
alternated so that they will eventually be 
40 feet apart every way. For the ‘first 
few years I shall use the spaces between the 
rows for tilled crops. It is my custom to 
sow a cover crop in the Fall, the same 
being plowed under in the Spring. The 
greater part of my permanent trees will 
be Baldwins, as that is the standard com¬ 
mercial Winter apple in this region. A 
portion of the trees will he McIntosh Beds 
and I may put in a few Gravensteins for 
the purpose of supplying a local market 
early in the season. I would like advice 
about the fillers. This is to be a commer¬ 
cial orchard, and so I shall use as few 
varieties as is consistent with good inter¬ 
pollination and with my desire to secure 
something of a crop of apples every year. 
I have used Wealthy as a filler abd' feel 
very well satisfied with it. Three other 
kinds have been recommended to me by our 
experiment station. McIntosh, Duchess of 
Oldenburg and Wagoner. I have thought of 
planting solid rows of McIntosh and cut- 
ting out every other tree when the proper 
time comes for removing fillers. I expect 
to dispose of a good share of my early 
apples to a private market, and ‘i have 
wondered whether it would be best to 
divide my fillers among the four varieties 
I have named ; that is McIntosh. Duchess. 
Wagoner and Wealthy. I want all my 
apples to be of good quality and red in 
(olor. I am also intending to set out a 
small peach orchard. Our experiment sta¬ 
tion finds that the following kinds do well 
in this region: Hiley, Carman, Belle of 
Georgia, Elberta, and Champion. All not 
needed for home consumption will prob¬ 
ably be disposed of in a nearby market. 
Ans.— “Will not set all the trees this 
season.” I would recommend that all 
the trees be bought at this time, and 
ihose not set be put into nursery rows 
about 2]/ 2 feet apart in a good, rich, 
strong soil and kept well cultivated up 
to September 1st, and that the trees be 
well headed back so as to have plenty 
of limbs to form perfect heads; and if 
not set by the second season, that they 
be then transplanted to three feet; this 
to improve their root growth‘and care 
of transplanting later. I do not approve 
of the diagonal method of setting an 
apple orchard; in fact it is out of date 
with present methods. This leaves the 
fillers 20x34 feet 8 inches, with a large 
loss of room ; neither is an orchard set 
THE RURAL* 
that way as easy to care for as one set 
in squares. See plan given. No. 1 
should be all Baldwin if he wishes the 
permanent orchard of that variety; No. 
3 should be all fillers, of which the best 
are Duchess, Wealthy, Wagener. No 
one could sell even the product of the 
first two from one acre in any local 
market I ever was acquainted with. The 
Wagener can be sold through Novem¬ 
ber, December and January to good 
advantage in our large cities. Wealthy 
NEW-YORKER 
As the semi-fillers are a little over 28 
feet from the permanent trees, I should 
set both Nos. 1 and 2 to Baldwins as 
far as we wished that variety. Graven- 
stein should be set at No. 1 (permanent¬ 
ly), as it is a good, thrifty grower. 
Peaches. —The early white varieties 
are a little more hardy in bud than any 
others I have tried. Hiley I have not 
tried, but Carman, Greensboro, Mamie 
Ross (if it can be bought true to name) 
have done well with me. Champion is 
February 17, 
and although I have no sympathy with 
the nonsense written about fillers rob¬ 
bing the permanent trees, or not having 
nerve to cut them out, they would be 
past their usefulness soon enough not to 
hurt the apple trees seriously. I have an 
apple orchard of about 8 acres set diag¬ 
onally, where peaches were used as fill¬ 
ers. But had I set apples as I now do— 
square—and used them as fillers, I 
should have been many dollars to the 
good. h. o. MEAD. 
for best results should be thinned. Mc¬ 
Intosh I class in with the semi-fillers, of 
which Hubbardston and Williams are 
good examples. These could be used as 
such or set permanently in No. 1 and 2. 
This is a money-maker in conditions 
that just suit it. But where good care 
is given an orchard, it is soon too large 
for a filler; in fact does not bear heav¬ 
ily enough when small to keep it in the 
filler class. 
prolific and hardy, but is inclined to rot 
with me in unfavorable weather. El¬ 
berta is the great money-maker where 
it does well, and if I were to plant an 
orchard again it would be largely that 
variety. No one should raise white 
varieties to ship to distant markets 
unless to the north of his location, so 
that their earliness should help in mak¬ 
ing a price for them. The peaches could 
be used as fillers No. 3 in the apple or¬ 
chard if the land is suitable for them, 
SUGAR BEET CULTURE AND SLAVERY. 
On page eight under the heading “Sugar 
Beet Culture and Slavery," is presented a 
show of defense or apology for an institution 
and conditions the results of which must 
he reckoned with not only by Colorado but 
by the entire nation. Your correspondent 
says he does not believe that there is any 
great injustice in the system. He makes 
almost exactly the same defense which the 
Southern planters made 6f slavery, i. e., 
that in no other way would it be "possible 
to take care of any acreage of beets,” only 
then it was cotton. One can have no con¬ 
ception of the barbarities inflicted upon 
women and children in the beet fields un¬ 
less he has witnessed them. One family 
of Russians, with all their belongings, was 
moved 12 miles in a beet rack from the 
station in Longmont to a beet field, the 
mother having given birth to a child within 
the hour from the arrival of the train to 
her departure for the ranch without medi¬ 
cal attention. Is it a defense or a weak 
apology that conditions are no worse here 
than "they are used to in the old country?" 
I have driven along the roads in the beet 
sections early in the morning and late in 
the evening in the late Fall and early Win¬ 
ter. and have seen little children working 
behind the beet digger in a kind of cower¬ 
ing trot, bareheaded, barehanded and. bare¬ 
footed, keeping up a kind of whimpering 
whine like a miserable puppy. I have seen 
boys and girls topping beets with the un¬ 
healed stump of a finger or thumb contin¬ 
ually getting in the way of the operation. 
Mutilation of this sort is not uncommon, 
and, if we are to believe the poor little 
sufferers, often intentionally inflicted to 
get a rest. In weeding time every member 
of the family, even babes a week old, are 
out from daybreak till dark. The little one 
is wrapped in an old blanet and laid be¬ 
tween the rows. When it cries one of the 
older children gives it a piece of bread 
soaked in water, and returns to her work. 
These families are addicted to all sorts of 
petty thefts, for which their employer set¬ 
tles and makes deductions at pay day, as a 
prosecution would be ruinous to the crop. 
“Nothing is safe that’s loose at both ends” 
one rancher told me. Great training this 
for American citizenship! The faces of 
these children are the old faces of suffer¬ 
ing, ignorance and vice. Perhaps your 
correspondent grew up in Michigan in nearly 
the same environment, but. thank God. 
some of us did not. t. f. 
the MAPES COMPLETE and 
SPECIAL CROP MANURES 
THE STANDARD FOR GENERATIONS 
1905 
POTATOES 
1911 
SEVEN CONSECUTIVE YEARS FIRST PRIZES ON POTATOES QUEENS-NASSAU COUNTIES AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY 
First Premium en Potatoes, 7th Consecutive Year Queens-Nassau Counties Agricultural 
Society, 1911 
Best sample Delaware late, half bushel potatoes. Had only seven 
articles shown and took six first premiums. 
First Prize on Potatoes, 6th Consecutive Year Queens-Nassau Counties Agricultural 
Society, 1910 
Basket of early potatoes grown by R. C. Colyer. Woodbury, L. I. 
Five First Prize Crops for Quality, Queens-Nassau Counties Agricultural Society Fair, 1909 
Richard C. Colyer, Woodbury, L. I .—Carman No. 3, Green Mountain, 
Rural New-Yorker, Sir Walter Raleigh, best bushel Green Mountain. 
Two First Prize Crops for Quality, Queens-Nassau Counties Agricultural Society Fair, 1908 
R. C. Colyer, Woodbury, L.I .—The two varieties of potatoes, Carman 
No. 1 and Sir Walter Raleigh, that took first premiums at Queens-Nassau 
Counties Fair this fall were grown with Mapes Fertilizers. 
Three First Prize Crops for Quality, Queens-Nassau Counties Agricultural Society Fair, 1907 
R. C. Colyer, Woodbury, L. I .—The three varieties of potatoes, Green 
Mountain, Carman No. 1 and Carman No. 3, that took first premiums at 
Queens-Nassau Counties Fair this fall were grown with Mapes Fertilizers. 
Three First Prize Crops for Quality, Queens-Nassau Counties Agricultural Society Fair, 1906 
R. C. Colyer, Woodbury, L. reports, November 27, 1906—“The three 
varieties of potatoes, Green Mountain, Carman No. 3 and Sir Walter Raleigh, 
I sent you, took the first premium at the Queens-Nassau Counties Fair this 
fall, were grown from your fertilizer. We grew about 300 bushels per acre. 
Sprayed the vines six times with Bordeaux Mixture.” 
First Prize Crop for Quality, Queens-Nassau Counties Agricultural Society Fair, 1905 
Extract from letter of grower, Richard C. Colyer, Woodbury, L. /., Novem¬ 
ber 15, 1905—“We planted our potatoes on clover sod. Manure spread on half 
of patch with 700 pounds of Mapes Potato Fertilizer, and on the rest we used 
a half ton Mapes Potato Manure alone. We did not see any diflference. Yield 
was great, fully 300 bushels per acre. Sprayed the patch seven times with 
Bordeaux Mixture.” 
We will send new book, 1912, entitled, “A Full Review of Chemicals 
and Clover,” together with our descriptive pamphlet to any one interested 
THE MAPES FORMULA & PERUVIAN GUANO CO. 
143 LIBERTY STREET, NEW YORK 
