802 
THE RURAb NEW-YORKER 
August 20, 
farm, each boy has a little garden plot of his own, 
which he plants and cultivates himself, and is of 
course taught how to do it, and the produce of this 
he can sell and keep the money. This year’s supply 
of fuel is cut from the wooded hills in Winter by the 
larger boys, and fitted for use with the help of a gaso¬ 
line engine. About a dozen cows supply milk and 
butter for the school, while the waste milk helps to 
fatten numerous pigs. The poultry-houses already 
furnish plenty of eggs and chickens for home use, 
while preparations Are now in progress to increase 
this branch of industry About 600 chickens are being 
raised this season. Last year they lost the barn by 
lire, as well as many tools, wagons, etc., which has 
caused much inconvenience, but a new barn is now 
being built, which will be completed before cold 
weather, and is expected to be very modern and com¬ 
plete in every way. But while work in the house and 
on the farm are scrupulously performed, and school 
and study hours strictly observed, the necessity of 
healthful play is not overlooked, and hours are set 
apart for recreation. Skating, coasting, swimming, 
ball and indoor games each have their season, and a 
more healthy, happy, hearty lot of children it would be 
hard to find. I do not know whether Hillside stands 
alone, the pioneer farm-school, or if there are others 
on the same plan, but 1 wish it might have one or more 
duplicates in every State in the Union. May we not 
hear from other correspondents, if any, who know of 
similar schools? Leslie h. phinney. 
GOVERNMENT AGRICULTURAL BULLETINS. 
Being a subscriber to, and reader of your valuable mag¬ 
azine, I have frequently seen suggestions to send to the 
Department of Agriculture for bulletins that they issue. 
The enclosed card will show my success in one case. I 
also tried to secure a copy of the 1909 Year Book, and 
received a similar card, except that the Superintendent of 
Documents called for $1 ; the card also stated that the 
edition was 500,000, and 470,000 of them were alloted to 
Senators and Representatives in Congress, presumably to 
be sent where they would do them the most good in try¬ 
ing to secure a re-election. Under such conditions why 
advise your readers to send to the Department of Agri¬ 
culture'for free copies of their publications? 
Massachusetts. chas. r. smith. 
This man sent for a bulletin on cement posts, and 
was informed that the supply was “entirely exhausted” 
but that he might get one by paying five cents to the 
Government Printing Office. We have heard so much 
of this lately that we shall stop informing our readers 
that free bulletins are at their disposal. Members of 
Congress seem to have first call. They send the bul¬ 
letins out to their constituents as small political sops 
or fine crumbs from the loaf. A large proportion of 
these political gifts are thrown .away and wasted. 
Then the people who really need this literature find 
the edition “entirely exhausted,” and are obliged to 
pay cash. It is as bad, on a sma*ller scale, as the dis¬ 
tribution of those beautiful fruit books prepared by the 
New York State Experiment Station. Members of 
the Legislature were supposed to distribute them. 
Many copies went to people who had no use for them. 
These expensive pictures were cut out for scrap books 
or for children to play with. Other volumes were sold 
to the book stores, and fruit growers who really 
needed them were obliged to pay big prices. It is a 
shame that such methods should be employed in dis¬ 
tributing these useful books. 
LITTLE ALFALFA SERMONS. 
No. V. 
From Wheat to Cows. 
Fifty years ago grain farmers in western New York 
and Ohio realized that their soil was failing. It would 
not produce wheat as it once did. Poverty and danger 
forced these farmers to think out a remedy. They 
found it in dairying and the judicious use of fertiliz¬ 
ers. The dairying has broadened out into stock feed¬ 
ing, but the change has restored the land and given 
new business to farmers. 
Thirty years ago the same problem was presented 
in Wisconsin and Minnesota. It was met in the same 
way by a change to dairying. We well remember the 
earnest appeals made by Prof. Henry and others to 
stop the stream of wheat bran which was flowing 
away from the northwestern mills, and feed it at 
home. The result of this new preaching was the same 
as in New York. Siloes were built, clover and Alfalfa 
were grown and the soil was saved. Ten years later 
the same question arose in Iowa, Kansas and States 
farther west. It was met in the same way by growing 
Alfalfa and feeding it to dairy cows and other stock. 
Now the cry comes from California, of the failure of 
wheat farming as at present conducted. The follow¬ 
ing from the Pacific Dairy Review states the case well: 
“It is becoming plain that California must look to 
some other line of farming. We have no more soil 
fertility to spare and can’t ship it out in thousands of 
vessels carrying grain to foreign countries as we did 
at one time. There is still a whole lot of fertility left 
in her 9oil, but it is down too deep for the wheat roots 
to draw on it. Deeper rooted crops are necessary to 
feed on it and Alfalfa is premier of all crops in this 
respect where it is possible to irrigate the land. By 
marketing Alfalfa through the dairy cow the manure 
gets back to the soil and the fertilizing material re¬ 
mains near the surface and some day, when wheat 
goes to a good price again, which it is sure to do be¬ 
fore many years, California will once again be heard 
from as a great wheat growing section. But the 
longer the present system of growing poor wheat yields 
continues, the more will we suffer for it in the long 
run. More Alfalfa and more cows—that’s what we 
need.” 
That puts the question very forcibly, and it is the 
same thing that has been worked out all the way from 
Cape Cod to the Golden Gate. The cow leads the 
way—clover, Alfalfa and the silo carry her along, the 
mineral fertilizers go with them, and a restored and 
strengthened soil results. Wherever Alfalfa thrives 
there is a chance for prosperity. h. w. c. 
FRUIT TREES IN POULTRY YARDS. 
Experience with Pears and Peaches. 
What is your experience in feeding heavily peach or 
pear trees? In our experience the Kieffer pear blights 
badly when fed too much nitrogen. Other varieties do 
not seem to be so had, but the Kieffer does not seem able 
to stand high feeding. The same is true with us with 
most varieties of peach, and we would like to know what 
your experience has been in this regard. Is it a wise 
tiling to keep large flocks of poultry among peach and 
pear trees? 
So far as our experience has gone, neither feed nor 
cultivation has had any influence one way or the other 
on pear blight. We have had trees blight on good 
ground that had not been plowed for 12 years, and on 
ordinary soil that was cultivated and cropped. Also 
we have immense Seckel pear trees standing where the 
hens like to wallow, and where not even a weed can 
germinate, and they bear beautiful crops of prize-win¬ 
ning pears, and this is true of other varieties here. 
We have Kieffer trees that stand by the fence with the 
stable yard one side and hens the other, and yet doing 
well. I think that the blight goes, like the wind 
blows, just where it listeth. We know that hens wi* 
kill peach trees, but it is not from blight but from 
winter-killing, which is so often taken to be blight. 
The soft rank growth caused by the hens fertilizing 
and digging under the trees cannot stand even an or¬ 
dinarily cold Winter, and in the Spring the trees 
start to leaf out, then stop and die exactly as if 
blighted. We are building a new house this year in 
our pear orchard, and so you can see we are proving 
our faith by our works. floyd q. white. 
New York. 
I have used on apple and pear trees all sorts of com¬ 
binations of commercial fertilizers, and have never 
seen any direct benefit; although there has been a de¬ 
cided benefit indirectly, in the increased growth of the 
clover or other cover crop, which in turn was of much 
advantage to the trees both in providing more humus, 
and in the increased water content of the soil, the 
decaying vegetable matter made more plant food avail¬ 
able to the trees. Later experiments—not yet com¬ 
pleted—lead me to think that in many cases, particu¬ 
larly on old trees, nitrate of soda may be of decided 
advantage. With peaches, I have had excellent results 
with wood ashes, also with potash salts, both muri¬ 
ate and sulphate. I would pay no more for the latter 
form. I have used, too, with good results, phosphoric 
acid in the form of South Carolina rock, three parts 
by weight of the latter to one of the former. I am 
inclined to think that for fruit trees the basic slag is a 
most desirable form of phosphorus. I do not agree 
with you, that the Kieffer does not need high feed¬ 
ing. I am sure one reason for the many undesirable 
specimens of this pear is that the trees lack enough 
available plant food. Any tree which grows as rapidly, 
fruits as much and as often, certainly requires higher 
feeding than varieties that grow less rapidly, bear 
less and irregularly. The same will apply to the Ben 
Davis apple. Without doubt an excess of nitrogen, 
which will promote a soft growth of wood, is undesir¬ 
able in any fruit, particularly so in young undeveloped 
pear trees, and in all peaches. Recent experience has 
demonstrated that pear trees standing in sod have 
blighted as badly or worse than those which were well 
fed and cultivated. It seems to be rather a case of 
infection, although I think slow growers more resistant 
than those making a large amount of new soft wood. 
I certainly would not advise letting chickens run ex¬ 
tensively among peach trees. I have never had or seen 
any but best results, where they were kept among 
apple, pear and plum trees; except in one instance, 
where the chickens roosting in the trees, spread the 
San Jose scale to an amazing extent. 
New York. edward van alstyne. 
Th question of feeding a peach orchard would prob¬ 
ably depend much on the nature of the soil and its 
condition at time of planting. Fertilizing with manure 
is discountenanced by most growers, and yet in all my 
experience both as farmer and yellows commissioner 
1 have seen no bad results from its use. It is usually 
so scarce and hard to get that it is sparingly applied. 
I would not hesitate to turn poultry into a peach or¬ 
chard if planted on the usual sandy and well drained 
soil. My experience with pears in a poultry yard is 
confined to a single Kieffer pear tree. This tree is 
doing well, and shows no sign of blight, but yet I 
could not recommend it as a general practice. My 
own little pear orchard lies in sod, and while that 
gives me a pain this fiercely hot dry weather, it is do¬ 
ing quite well and will remain so at least for the 
present. L. w. ruth. 
Michigan. 
I have made it a rule for some years to watch my 
trees closely as individuals, and keep the growth of 
wood and fruit as nearly balanced as possible. If I 
find a tree is inclined to overbear at the expense of 
wood growth, I apply nitrogen, and if inclined to run 
to wood, withhold nitrogen, and every year give every 
tree a fair application of potash and phosphoric acid 
in the form of high-grade fertilizer. When nitrogen 
is needed I prefer stable manure, and usually apply it 
when the ground is bare in the Winter or very early 
in the Spring, before the frost is out of the ground, and 
have secured very satisfactory results. If too much 
nitrogen is applied to peach trees they make a long 
slender growth with weak joints, and the more you 
cut them back the longer growth they will make, while 
if not kept in thrifty growing condition they are un¬ 
able to resist the various diseases that peach ltfe is 
heir to and they soon sicken and die. It is very im¬ 
portant to balance their ration properly. I have seen 
some fine peaches grown in chicken yards, but in these 
cases the ground was sharp gravel that became very 
dry by midsummer, and in this case I think the lack 
of moisture served to counteract the stimulating effect 
of the hen manure, and vice versa. Some varieties 
of pears have shown a much greater tendency to blight 
on my ground than others, Clapp’s Favorite, Sheldon 
and Flemish Beauty being the worst, and Duchess, 
Lawrence, Seckel and Bartlett most resistant. These 
varieties, however, are not equally resistant on all 
soils, neither are the first named varieties equally 
subject to blight on all soils. My experience leads me 
to believe that nitrogen should be applied to pear trees 
only very early in the season, and that growth should 
not be stimulated after midsummer. For that reason 
I would hesitate on my ground to keep a large flock 
of poultry in my pear orchard the year round. 
Pennsylvania. gabriel hiester. 
HELP IN THE BELLOWS MILK CASE. 
We have read in The R. N.-Y. of the now celebrated 
Bellows milk case, and as farmers are deeply interested 
in its ultimate outcome. Wrightstown Grange No. 147, 
at its last regular meeting, unanimously voted to con¬ 
tribute to aid in the prosecution of this case. En¬ 
closed please find cheque. We send it in the hope that 
the farmer’s position and his rights may be clearly 
determined and established in this matter. The ques¬ 
tion of the cost of production of milk, its value as 
compared with other food products, and its unre- 
munerative market price is engaging the attention of 
dairymen everywhere. We have cause for encourage¬ 
ment, and may well rejoice in the outcome of the 
fight that has recently been waged in Boston and Cin¬ 
cinnati. In both of these great cities it was clearly 
established that the producer was not receiving a fair, 
just and remunerative price for his milk, and in con¬ 
sequence the wholesale price was materially advanced. 
We, producers to Philadelphia market, are assuming 
advanced positions and strengthening our hands for 
a struggle that seems imminent and unavoidable. We 
are hoping our dealers will be wise enough to prevent 
forcing an issue—for we are determined as never be¬ 
fore to market our milk at a profit instead of at a 
loss, as in the past two years. We hope the prosecu¬ 
tion of the Bellows case may have the tendency to 
unite the farmers in their manifold interests or at 
least the dairymen, not only in localities nor in States, 
but country-wide, interstate. The cause of all this 
necessary agitation to-day is attributable to the dairy¬ 
men and farmers themselves. They do not stick with 
or to their fellows in emergencies for mutual benefit 
and protection, and until they do either of their own 
volition and accord, or are compelled to do so by 
the exigencies of their case, they will continue to 
reap the reward of their folly, and cause worriment, 
discontent and disaster to their associates, as well 
as increase the hardships now attending this great 
branch of agriculture. a. c. buck. Master. 
Wrightstown, N. J., Grange. 
R. N.-Y.—Mr. Buck has said it all in a few words. 
The fund for the Bellows case is slowly growing. 
More money yet is needed to appeal it. There is a big 
milk fight ahead of us. It is bound to come and can¬ 
not now be evaded. Get ready for it. 
