1914. 
'r H R RXJRAL NEW-YORKES 
SIS 
ALFALFA IN JEFFERSON COUNTY, N. Y. 
According to tlic census of 1890 there was no 
Alfalfa growing in Jefferson County. The census of 
1900 reported four acres, and that of 1910 reported 
2-14 acres. Since 1910 the acreage has increased to 
some extent. Alfalfa growing in Jefferson County 
lias never given promise of wonderful results. 
Three seasons seem to be about as long a period, 
on the average, as the stands of this crop will 
return satisfactory yields. Many fields do not last 
longer than two seasons, and as a general rule two 
crops only are secured. Where the third cutting is 
made the plants are obliged to go into Winter with 
very little protection. 
As a general thing the soil conditions in the 
county are unfavorable (uiulrained heavy clay), 
though there are some local soil areas of gravel. 
Many who have tried to grow this crop have met 
will partial or complete faliure. While the major¬ 
ity of failures have been due to a disregard to the 
necessity of liming the soil, inoculating the seed, 
properly fitting the soil and time of sowing, some 
have failed after carefully observing all precau¬ 
tions. Open Winters with sleet or ice storms have 
proven most harmful as regards weather conditions 
to the Alfalfa crop. Many who have tried the crop 
in Jefferson County, and have watched others, are 
by no means optimistic concerning the future of 
Alfalfa. There are many instances on record where 
the crop has failed after every possible precaution 
concerning its growth has been observed. 
Some field trials are being made wtih two of the 
so-called hardy varieties, namely, Grimm and Turke¬ 
stan Alfalfas. Of the former there are now eight 
acres growing in the county: of the latter about 
one acre. What success these two varieties will 
make remains to be seen. They are now passing 
through their second Winter. The Grim Alfalfa 
differs from the common Alfalfa chiefly in respect 
to its root growth (see Fig. 249. which is decidedly 
branching in contrast to the long tap-root of the 
common sort. Whether this type of root will enable 
the plants to withstand any better the heaving 
action of the soil is a question that remains to be 
proven. The foliage of the two varieties differs 
only slightly, the leaves of the Grimm variety being 
s'ightly less lanceolate than the common Alfalfa. 
F. E. ROBERTSON. 
FIGHTING FROST WITH FIRE. 
Part II. 
WHEN TO START.—In the larger Western or¬ 
chards alarm thermometers are used. These are 
regulated and attached so as to ring an alarm in 
the house whenever the mercury in the thermometer 
goes down to a certain point. Usually 
this is put at 33°, and when thus ad¬ 
justed the house bell will ring when 
the thermometer register 33°. Some 
growers arrange for the alarm at 35°, 
or even higher, while others wait until 
the mercury strikes 32°. Good judg¬ 
ment is necessary in this point, so as 
to avoid wasting the fuel. Generally 
speaking, if the thermometer goes 
down slowly through the night, but 
reaches 32° a short time before sun¬ 
rise, the experienced grower will not 
start his tires. If, however, the ther¬ 
mometer reaches 32° early in the night 
some of the pots will be started. This 
is a matter to be determined largely 
by experience and good judgment. 
There is more danger on a clear night 
than when the weather is cloudy. 
The U. S. Weather Service is prepared 
to report weather condtiions and fore¬ 
casts, and many of the larger growers 
keep in close touch with the depart¬ 
ment, and are guided in lighting the 
fires by the weather reports or indica¬ 
tions which they receive. There are 
various plans for starting the fires. 
In some orchards the oil burners may be connected 
with electric lighters. This service may go so far 
that at the time the warning bell rings in the house 
the fires are also automatically started in the heat¬ 
ers. Most growers, however, start their fires by 
using a torch, and pouring a small quantity of 
gasoline on top of the oil. In some cases men ride 
through the orchard on horseback, starting the fires 
or regulating the covers so as to increase or de¬ 
crease the heat and smudge. 
COST OF OUTFIT.—The cost of such an equip¬ 
ment will vary. The heaters cost from $20 to $75 
per acre, with less than this for home-made fixtures, 
such as old cans or paint kegs. It will require at 
least 300 gallons of oil per acre to make sure of 
the average season. This will cost all the way 
from $10 to $20, depending upon the local price of 
the oil. In addition to this will he the cost of 
the tanks for distribution and storage, the time 
required in handling the outfit, and the other appa¬ 
ratus. Mr. John Bland of Missouri gives the fol¬ 
lowing figures as the cost of equipment for a 30- 
acre orchard. In one year he says that 400 gallons 
per acre would have been required to carry the 
Grimm Alfalfa ; Common Alfalfa. Fig. 249. 
orchard through all the freezes. In most other 
seasons 250 gallons of oil would have answered. 
His estimate follows: 
Cost of Thirty-Acre Equipment. 
15,000 gallons of oil. at 3%c. $525.00 
Storage tank of 15,000 gallons capacity. 171.00 
2.400 smudge pots, at 13c.‘. 312.00 
300-gallon wagon tank. 22.00 
Cost of 30 acres.$1,030.00 
Cost of one acre. 34.33 
This means $34 an acre, and it will seem pro¬ 
hibitive to many a grower, yet it is an effective 
form of insurance for the crop, and many a New 
York State grower could well have paid twice that 
sum in years past to protect his orchard in time of 
a late frost. We find that some of our readers 
appear to think that this method of fighting frost 
is designed for Winter protection. Nothing of the 
sort. It is merely intended as a possible means for 
raising the temperature artificially for a day or 
two at a time during the Spring, when an untimely 
frost strikes the orchard just at the time of bloom¬ 
ing. The same system is employed by gardeners or 
strawberry growers, in protecting their fruit or 
vegetables. It does not work as well usually with 
these low-growing crops, which are close to the 
ground, and our judgment is that in most of the 
fruit orchards of the East the system will not give 
as good satisfaction as in the more level and pro¬ 
tected Western orchards. We have, most of us. 
followed the plan of planting our trees on the hill¬ 
tops, or upon rolling ground, and these are the 
hardest places of all to heat, since they receive a 
sweep of the wind which will carry the heat of the 
fires away. 
NO FRIEND OF A GERMAN HARE. 
J. V. inquires about German hares, and says he 
wants to secure some to liberate where he lives. 
They are plentiful in this section, and in the Sum¬ 
mer many of the half-grown ones are caught and 
shipped to various parts of the country. I do not 
for a moment suppose that J. V. knows anything 
about a German hare. If he does, and he ever 
secures stock for liberating in his community, 1 
advise the citizens of that place to shoot them at 
once, and I was going to say shoot J. V. at the 
same time, but if a person knowingly introduces 
this pest into a country shooting is altogether too 
gentle treatment for him; he should at the very 
least be hanged, drawn and quartered. A wealthy 
men in this county got them for his preserve a few 
years ago, but some of them soon got out, and in 
a short time the whole county was overrun with 
them. They will ruin any kind of a fruit tree that 
is less than 15 years old, though they decidedly pre¬ 
fer the apple. Every tree now that we set requires 
a heavy wire protec-tor that costs almost as much 
as the tree itself. We have tried the cheaper pro¬ 
tectors, but in the end they are the most expensive 
of all. A single hare will ruin as high as 100 trees 
in one night. Personally I have had nearly 700 
ruined by them. In this township we have amend¬ 
ed the game law to suit ourselves, and we hunt 
them from year's end to year's end, and if all town¬ 
ships kill as many as we do there must be an an¬ 
nual slaughter of forty or fifty thousand in the 
county. As a result of the hares every mother’s 
son keeps a hound dog, while the shiftless, irre¬ 
sponsible fellows keep two or three, and as a result 
of the hounds a flock of sheep stands about the 
same chance as the proverbial clawless cat. 
Dutchess Co., N. Y. iiarvey losf.e. 
A LIME-CRUSHING CLUB. 
Dr. I. W. Carey of Highland Count}' is planning 
to organize a club of farmers who will own the 
crusher and engine for crushing limestone for agri¬ 
cultural purposes, the machine to be moved about 
so as to avoid long hauls as much as possible. At 
present Dr. Carey owns the outfit, and has operated 
it for several seasons, going to different neighbor¬ 
hoods for, say, a 50-ton job, and moving elsewhere 
when all orders were filled. He charged $2 per 
ton for crushing, but says that $2.25 would be neces¬ 
sary to return a profit. He finds a greater profit 
in crushing stone for road-making, but thinks that 
it would be a good thing for a company of farmers 
to own and operate a crusher for their own needs. 
A crusher has been operated in the western part of 
the county, but this was recently sold and moved to 
the northern part of the county, and 
too far away to be of value to anyone 
in this vicinity. Good rock of mag¬ 
nesium and calcium composition is to 
be found almost anywhere here, and 
location of a crusher is governed by 
considerations of the easy distribution 
of the finished product. Of course a 
crushing club should be large enough 
to justify the purchase of a fair-sized 
outfit, and to keep it busy. w. e. d. 
Hillsboro. Ohio. 
PRUNING CHERRIES WHILE IN 
FRUIT. 
I have a number of sour c-hevry trees 
which have grown too high and should be 
headed lower. IIow will it do to wait 
until cherries are ripe and then cut the 
upright branches off? It will be a cheap 
way of picking the fruit. Will it work 
well in re-shaping the trees? r. 
Ohio. 
We understand that Chas. S. Scoon, 
a well-known cherry grower at Geneva, 
N. Y., has tried this very plan. He 
advises against it. He says it merely 
hurts the tree without accomplishing 
any permanent shortage of height. As the result of 
such cutting he had five or six tall branches in the 
place of one. They were soon as high as before. His 
trees were too close together, so instead of trying 
to cut the tops off, he took out half the trees and 
gave them a chance to spread out. While Mr. Scoon 
does not advocate such topping, it is at times neces¬ 
sary to curtail the height. To do this it is better 
to cut out one or more entire central limbs down 
to where they branch from other wood. This cuts 
off height without stimulating too much wood 
growth up in the air. This is a fair statement of 
the matter. As an easy way to pick cherries, the 
plan might answer, but in its permanent effect upon 
the ti*ee it will not pay. 
