1910. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
159 
APPLE TREES IN ROUGH LAND. 
rPUIT PROBLEMS IN THE EAST. 
An Orchard Among Rocks. 
I have a piece of land, about three-quarters of an acre, 
that is nearly all rocks, and it would cost all the 
land is worth to blow them out. Very little grass grows 
on it, as it is sandy ground, but quite a little wild rose, 
and is not worth much for pasture. What do you think 
of setting out apple and peach trees on it, and depend on 
mulching? I raise early potatoes and have a good many 
vines that I have to cart off the farm somewhere. Apples 
grow naturally ail over such land, and although they 
grow much faster when cultivated the land is of no value 
now. Will it pay to graft the wild apples growing all 
over the hills in the pasture? Some are as big around 
:1 s my ankle. As they are in no regular order it might 
be a job to care for them, and cultivation is out of the 
fjueslion. It is mulch or nothing. When T first set out 
npples they were not salable around here, but now I could 
retail a good many if nice. IIow long before these grafted 
trees would bear if mulched? When should mulch be 
applied ? I have sprouts leaves in March and potato vines 
in July. c. l. y. 
Long Island. 
You can bv following this method obtain a fair 
growth on the apple trees and develop a fair or¬ 
chard. We doubt if peach trees grown in this way 
will ever satisfy you. We would plant yearling apple 
trees in small holes, well cut back—both root and 
top. Tack the soil firmly about them. Hoe a space 
at least 2 x / 2 feet in diameter around them, and as 
- on as you can get it pile mulch material of any 
rt around the trees. Give each tree about a pound 
nf some high-grade fertilizer—not close to the roots 
but in the hoed space. Pile on the potato vines, leaves, 
straw, manure or /anything you have. Cut the 
briars and weeds if possible and put all around the 
trees. In the Fall move all this mulch away and throw 
a mound of earth at the base of each tree. It is 
largely a matter of getting enough mulching material. 
We find this one of the best ways of utilizing vines 
and wastes. The growth will be steady but not as 
rapid as when trees are cultivated. Of course, they 
must be sprayed and pruned. After trying peach 
trees under these conditions we are not prepared to 
advise their planting. Apples will do better. By 
dl means graft the wild seedlings, provided the roots 
are not too badly eaten by borers. In some cases 
these roots have been gnawed to a mere shell. In 
this sort of “culture” you must be very careful 
to hunt borers in all the .trees. Our 
grafted trees begin giving fruit about 
four years from the graft. They may 
give a few apples earlier, but not many. 
Tut the mulch on as early as possible. 
The latter part of Summer is usually the 
time when it is most needed. 
Apples to Follow Chestnut. 
In Northern New Jersey we are cutting 
off tracts of chestnut forests, generally on 
rough ground that is hardly lit to reclaim 
foi tillable land after trees are taken off, 
aud owing to the disease among the chestnut 
ti'ii'S it does not seem advisable to allow 
them to grow up again. The value per acre 
Mi'T a growth of 30 or 50 years has not 
iuercAscd as one would think it. would in 
comparison with the Increased cost of lum- 
l"T. If fruit trees were planted where those 
tracts were cut off do you think they could 
l' 1 ' grown successfully, and what labor would 
required in addition to keeping down the 
sprouts, as it would hardly be possible to 
cultivate except by hand among the rocks 
and stumps? It is forest soil which lias 
constantly covered by the falling of the 
leav,? S- W. A. S. 
I bis has been worked out in several 
places. Such soil is often well adapted 
J a pple growing. In our neighborhood 
a piece of chestnut wood was cut off. 
I be timber and cord wood were car¬ 
ried away and then the field was thor¬ 
oughly burned over. Unless this is done 
bre may get in after the trees are planted 
and destroy the orchard. Lines were 
111,1 north and south wherever a course 
clearest of stumps could be found. The 
listance apart was not uniform, varying 
Tom 25 to 40 feet. By selecting these 
places and blowing out a few stumps 
it was possible to make spaces 10 feet 
or so wide through which a one-horse 
[low would work. The trees were 
planted in the center of these strips and 
five furrows or more on each side thrown to the 
trees. This gave a chance to give cultivation. The 
middles were filled with stumps. Some were killed 
by the fire. Most sprouted, and the sprouts were 
mocked off with an axe and thrown around the trees 
as mulch. With this treatment in a couple of years 
they were dead and are now rotting. Weeds and 
brush which grew among them were cut with a 
brush scythe and thrown around the trees. Grass 
scattered in the mud among the stumps has made 
a fair growth, and gives more mulch. The narrow 
strip which has been cultivated prevents the spread 
of fire, and the trees have made a good growth with 
little labor. They are not even distances apart, but can 
be worked one way thoroughly if desired when the 
stumps come out. They will probably be left in sod 
with the narrow strip of plowed ground alongside 
them. They could have been grown without this 
plowing by simply planting them, hoeing a small 
space around and piling brush and leaves. This is 
a sure invitation to damage from lire. At one place 
in the South the weeds were cut off, trees planted 
evenly and a gang of colored laborers put in with 
r 
were barren the previous year, and probably will be 
in 1910, while the Williams always bears a good crop. 
With us the Williams is ready for market the last 
week in July, closely following the Astrachan, and 
continues for at least three weeks, the fruit ripening 
the second and third week being the best. To those 
who wish to try this variety I will say, plant in a 
strong fertile soil, head low and give plenty of room. 
There is a profitable market in all large towns for 
Summer and early Fall apples of attractive appear¬ 
ance and good quality. During its season the Will¬ 
iams Favorite will outsell any variety with which I 
am acquainted. To follow the Williams we have 
the Wealthy and are trying Richards Graft, Jeffcris 
and Ohio Nonpareil. A characteristic fruit is shown 
in Fig. 56. Willard mckinstry. 
Hampden Co., Mass. 
WILLIAMS FAVORITE. Fig. 5(5. 
heavy hoes to tear up the ground and grub out the 
brush. This would not pay with our Northern labor. 
The plan of clearing a row through the stumps so 
as to plow a narrow strip is probably the best way 
to utilize such land at moderate expense. We know 
that high quality fruit can be grown in this way. 
THE WILLIAMS FAVORITE APPLE. 
Fig. 57 shows one of our Williams Favorite apple 
trees, photographed when in bloom last May. This 
tree is one of two which my grandfather set out in his 
door yard 60 years ago. The records show that these 
THE NEED OF A FARM EDUCATION. 
Views of a Massachusetts Man. 
As I read Air. Morse’s article on page 70, I could 
not help thinking that people are beginning to wake 
up to the fact that the kind of education doled out 
by the average country high school has been and 
still is educating our young people away from the 
farm. The subjects taught usually bear no direct 
relation to the person’s after life so far as making 
him a successful economic farmer. What has been 
the course in the school has not trained him to do 
a bit better farming than his father did; in fact it 
will be some years usually before he can do as well. 
I may not express my views at length on this theme, 
but let this be said—there can be just as high devel¬ 
opment, just as broad a scope, just as deep and 
accurate thinking applied by the pupil in studying 
the subject of agriculture as can be secured from 
many of the so-called necessary subjects of our present 
high school curricula. Too much are these schools 
under the spell of the college. 
Let the boy find his chemistry in noting action of 
fertilizers and manures on different soils, upon differ¬ 
ent crops. Connect his study of physics with farm 
tools and machinery. Teach him how to select seed, 
to find the percentage of good seed apart from the 
chaff, usually too evident in the present-day package, 
to find the percentage of germination, to note its 
vitality, its growth, learn to feed it to 
best advantage; and much else that I 
may not mention. Last let him receive 
his share of the dollar returns from his 
knowledge as dividends on his school in¬ 
vestment. Thus you will have made him 
a good student, a better farmer, a more 
desirable citizen to help along this ener¬ 
getic old world. t. a. 
Massachusetts. 
WILLIAA1S FAVORITE; AN OLD TREE. Fig. 57. 
trees have fruited each successive year for 50 years. 
The only approach to failure was in 1884, the year 
of the great freeze, Alay 30. Even then these trees, 
being protected by the house, produced some fruit. 
The Williams has been criticised in your columns 
as a poor grower and shy bearer. This has not been 
our experience. We have a row of Tolman, which 
my father top-grafted with Baldwin and Williams 
13 years ago. The Williams grafts have made as 
large a growth as the Baldwin and produced more 
fruit, for the Baldwin, while well loaded in 1909 , 
A PLEA FOR SWEET CLOVER. 
What J. W. G. says about Sweet clover 
on page 71 agrees with my experience. 
One reason that so many farmers con¬ 
demn it without a trial is that they have 
seen stock refuse to eat it when green 
and rank. The bitter taste of the green 
clover which sometimes causes stock to 
refuse it, largely passes away when cured 
for hay. For hay it grows too coarse to 
be allowed to stand until in bloom, un¬ 
less it is to be run through a feed cut¬ 
ter. That which wc ran through the 
cutter was all eaten, although not har¬ 
vested until beginning to bloom and 
nearly five feet high. We intend to try 
it in the silo with corn. Another reason 
why this clover is not more used is that 
it is feared as a weed. By cutting or 
plowing under so that no seeds form 
there is no danger. Farmers are just 
beginning to wake up to the fact that 
the humus in the soil should be kept up 
as well as the elements of fertility. No 
matter how rich in fertilizer a soil may 
be it cannot do its best unless filled with 
humus. When humus is added to a soil 
its texture is improved, it is enabled to 
withstand drought much better, and ni¬ 
trogen, the most costly plant food ele¬ 
ment, is increased. The advantage of 
Sweet clover is that it is so very thrifty and hardy, 
so well able to get along with poor soil, drainage and 
preparation. Some soils are said to require inocula¬ 
tion, but we have not found such. 
If there is any leguminous crop equal to Sweet 
clover for green manuring in the cold North “we 
want to be shown.” h. m. p. 
Vermont. _ 
If the world Is to know what it costs a farmer to 
produce a pound of meat or a bushel of grain, why should 
we not know what a suit of clothes or a pair of shoes cost? 
