1913, 
Tl-ItC RURAL N tC W-YORKER 
831 
ON A NEW YORK FRUIT FARM. 
Saving Labor and Increasing Efficiency. 
The pictures shown on this page, Figs. 300, 301 
and 302, are taken on the farm of E. W. Cornwall 
in Wayne County, New York, and show some of the 
things one may find on a well-conducted New York 
fruit farm. One pictures illustrates the use of the 
new light-draft orchard harrow. As will be seen, 
these work with spring teeth and are wheeled so 
that the driver may ride. Each harrow covers a 
12-foot strip, and they are proving very satisfactory 
for work between young trees. The 
two teams here shown can cover from 
4-1 to 4G acres a day. On the whole 
such teams prove more efficient and 
more generally satisfactory than a 
tractor. There is therefore still use 
for the good old horse on that up-to- 
date fruit farm. 
Another picture shows two Italians 
at work among young fruit trees. This 
matter of labor has been of late years 
changing the social life in the fruit¬ 
growing districts to some extent. These 
laborers help to solve the labor ques¬ 
tion, which proved to be a hard prob¬ 
lem with the increase of fruit through 
the development of the industry. These 
men are always available where there 
is a demand for numbers of them. 
They board themselves, as a rule, and 
will take care of themselves generally. 
The laborers from Northern Italy are generally am¬ 
bitious and willing workers. As a rule they are not 
used as teamsters, but for hand work, such as grub¬ 
bing trees and picking fruit they prove quite satis¬ 
factory. 
The third picture shows that on these modern 
fruit farms the farmer’s wife is to have her share 
of labor-saving machinery. We once visited a farm 
in one of the Middle States, where on a hot day the 
farmer, a big, strong man, was cultivating corn, 
sitting comfortably under a canopy top 
on a two-horse cultivator. -He was 
fully protected from the sun, and cer¬ 
tainly had a comfortable seat. Ilis 
wife was carrying water in light buc¬ 
kets from a spring in order to get 
enough of the fluid to do the family 
washing. This man was fully able to 
put water in his house, and buy the 
washing machinery for the wife, but 
he simply had not thought to do it. 
In the picture we see a different story. 
The lady of the farm may sit down 
and read The R. N.-Y., or any other 
magazine, while the electric hired girl 
operates the washing machine, and 
will later wring the clothes and iron 
them. This lady of the farm, by the 
way, is a well-known contributor to 
The R. N.-Y., Mrs. F. W. Cornwall, 
who two years ago at the New York State Fruit 
Growers’ meeting, made what was called the 
best impromptu speech at the meeting. In the New 
York counties bordering Lake Ontario may be found 
some of the most prosperous fruit farms in the 
world. Their owners are thoroughly up to date, 
and are competent business men, many of whom 
have seen their business grow from small begin¬ 
nings to large and profitable enter¬ 
prises. Farmers on the Pacific Coast 
are praised in song and story, and 
“boomed” as a sure foundation for a 
get-rich-quick scheme. Yet these New 
York fruit farms are more prosperous 
and more promising, with a more en¬ 
during future. 
would be a good plan to change seed. I went to a 
neighbor, who was an old man, having a few acres 
of land, and bought my seed from him. It was 
white flint corn, large ears that were glazed red at 
the ends. I knew it was good corn, for the old man 
did not plant more than half an acre each year, and 
he gave it the very best of care. By doing this year 
after year he had eliminated all the poor weak 
stalks, and his yield per acre was twice as much 
as ours. I took the corn home, told father what I 
had done. He laughed and said the yellow corn 
was good enough for him. The next day we started 
ITALIAN LABORERS ON THE JOB. Fig. 300. 
to plant the field, and as this is to tell you how I 
took care of my half and not father's, I will drop 
him out until harvest time. 
I was very careful in planting, selecting the ears 
which had kernels of uniform size. I planted three 
or four kernels in each hill; for I reasoned that it 
would be easier to pull one out occasionally than it 
would be to plant, in a stalk. Testing my planter 
every three or four rows, I made sure it was not 
fooling me in regard to the number of kernels it was 
LIGHT DRAFT HARROW FOR ORCHARD WORK. Fig. 301. 
depositing in each hill. I was also very careful in 
putting the planter square in the spot where the 
two marks intersected each other, for I knew 
from past experience that it was very aggra¬ 
vating to cultivate corn planted in a zig-zag 
manner. After I finished planting my half 1 took 
a peck of corn and sowed around the fence for 
the crows and chipmunks to work on for a week. 
each way, allowing four or five days’ interval be¬ 
tween the cultivation each way. By doing this the 
ground was mellow and loose all the time. By this 
time the corn was four or five inches tall, and I 
decided it was time for me to see if any hills had 
too many stalks in them. Taking my hoe I went 
over my half, straightened up the hills which were 
stepped on or bent over, and removed the stalks 
from the hills which had more than three. I was 
careful, and took the plants in the center of the hill, 
for this gave the others more chance to grow. I then 
began my systematic course of careful working, and 
cultivated it three times more each way, 
allowing a few days’ lapse between the 
cultivation each way, and running the 
cultivator more lightly each time. The 
corn was not touched again until it 
was in blossom. I then removed about 
one-lnilf of the tassels, taking them 
from every other hill. This let the 
sunshine into the corn better, and the 
nourishment which would have gone 
into the tassels went into ears. 
We had an excellent crop of corn 
that Fall, for father took the same 
care of his as he always did, but I beat 
him by about GO bushels of ears. I 
spent about five days more on my half 
than father did on his, and whether it 
was the little extra things I did for 
mine, or the different seed, I cannot 
say, but I believe that it was a com¬ 
bination of both. Father gave me $75 
for my extra corn, saying that the lesson lie had 
learned was worth it. Even if I had not received 
any money I would have been well repaid for my 
labor, for the pleasure of matching my wits against 
my father’s was great enjoyment to me. j. p. d. 
Connecticut. 
An Old Soldier on Education. 
I am somewhat interested in this discussion of 
progressive son vs. old man. It is so large a subject 
that so far your correspondents are 
only skimming the edge of it, and have 
lost sight of all the family except those 
two. Because the young man has been 
to college does not necessarily give him 
brains, practical sense, but much of 
our so-called education rather unfits 
him, certainly, for the farming busi¬ 
ness, and promotes self-conceit and 
feeling of superiority to the rest of the 
family, and has injured many a fine 
boy. Should the old man, with his 
many years of probably moderate suc¬ 
cess, risk all that he has gained, and 
all the interest of the rest of his fam¬ 
ily, in at least a doubtful experiment? 
I knew an old lady who had six fine 
sons, five of whom were given a col¬ 
lege education. I have often heard her 
say that the one who had only a plain 
education was the only one of the six who had sense 
enough to support himself decently, and not be often 
calling on his father for assistance, p. c. waring. 
Virginia. 
of 
the 
I 
THE ROY BEATS FATHER’S 
CORN CROP. 
Two years ago we had 10 acres 
corn. This was all in one field, which 
was equally fertile on one side as on 
the other. Father and I did all 
work on the farm, and that Spring 
asked him if he would work one-half 
ol the cornfield, let me work the other 
ludl, and give me all the corn I could 
grow on my half more than he could 
grow on his half. He laughed and said 
1,1 would give me a dollar for every bushel of ears 
1 could grow more than he could. I did the plow- 
!ll g and harrowing, and father marked the ground 
ant three feet and six inches each way. After 
a as done I told him he must work in his own half 
and I would in mine. We had been planting yellow 
■ lint corn for a number of years, and 1 thought 
THE ELECTRIC HIRED GIRL SAVES WASHING DAY. Fig. 
A week after I cultivated it one way. This I was 
able to do by following the marks, and I cultivated 
deep. Father laughed and asked me if I wasn’t 
this hurrying things a little? I replied that I would be 
the one who would do the laughing that Autumn. 
As soon as the corn was so I could see it. I culti¬ 
vated it the other way. Three times I cultivated it 
it 
Conservative Father and Progressive Son. 
I have watched with interest the progressive son 
and conservative father discussion, and think so far 
it has been one-sided. Taking with 
many farmers I find the opinion of a 
large majority is that it is much safer 
for the father to keep his own hand on 
the reverse lever. While in some cases 
the son when given full control has 
done grandly, in far too many he has 
in two or three years scattered that 
which his father was 40 years getting 
together. Progressive farming is all 
right and desirable, but so many in 
trying to follow it mistake the shadow 
for the substance that it lias been 
pointed out to me, and my own obser¬ 
vation is the same, that the progressive 
farmer almost always dies poor. The 
young men from the agricultural 
schools who take up farming seem to 
have lost the work habit, and generally 
whine for an office, or try to sell some- 
>02. thing to their neighbors. I don’t like 
to see the discussion closed without 
something being said on both sides, and I hope some 
of the fathers who have had experience will let 
loose a little. Tell us just what the farm conditions 
were when the boy got home from the agricultural 
college, what new plans were made and how they 
turned out. samuel decker. 
New York. 
