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"THE RURAL N E W -YORKER 
The Bureau of Plant Industry has grown from a 
comparatively small institution until it now has a 
force of something like three thousand men, and 
spends nearly three million dollars a year in its 
work. The work of the Bureau covers practically 
all fields of crop production, and more recently it 
has extended its activities into the field of economics, 
especially as affecting crop distribution and mar¬ 
keting. 
In 1913 Galloway was asked to take the position 
of Assistant Secretary of Agriculture, although he 
was not an applicant for the place. There was no 
political significance whatever in the appointment. 
A great deal of the work of the Department during 
the past year has been redirected and a spirit of 
hearty cooperation developed. Special efforts have 
been made to bring the Department into closest 
sympathy and cooperation with the agricultural col¬ 
leges and State experiment stations throughout the 
country. This spirit of friendliness and cooperation 
has resulted in the shaping up and final passage of 
the Smith-Lever Extension Bill. 
SCIENTIFIC PRODUCTION OF FINE APPLES. 
From Plowing to Packing. 
Part III. 
B ARRELING.—Apples may be barreled in the 
orchard or in the packing shed as they are 
picked, or else placed in temporary storage 
and barreled on bad days during the picking season 
or later as they are marketed. In any case success 
in the entire process depends largely on the care 
and attention given to the picking, handling, and 
grading of the fruit, the quality of the barrel used, 
and the neatness and honesty with which the fruit 
is packed. Failure to properly look after any one 
of these is quite sufficient to change success into 
failure. 
PICKING THE FRUIT.—The proper degree of 
ripeness is the most important consideration in 
picking the fruit. With varieties which have more 
or less red, color is usually the main guide. That 
is, such varieties should have developed their full 
normal color and full normal size, unless for 
some unusual reason full size or full color is ob¬ 
viously impossible. A condition sometimes spoken 
of as hard ripe is quite expressive, and means 
that the fruit should have full color and full 
size, but with the flesh showing no sign of 
mellowness. With the Winter varieties the seeds 
are usually brown under the above conditions, 
and this, along with size, is usually the final test 
of maturity in Winter varieties having no red 
color. Fruit should also separate from the branch 
with comparative ease, for otherwise picking will 
be delayed and considerable injury will result from 
the breaking off of fruit spurs. Severe dropping 
sometimes occurs during seasons of drought, and 
may be sufficient cause for earlier picking, but when 
apples are properly grown and sprayed the amount 
of droppage is not likely to be a serious problem. 
HARVESTING EQUIPMENT.—The character of 
ladder, picking baskets, packing tables and other 
necessary equipment is of much importance. Where 
the trees are not especially tall the three-legged 
step-ladder with side braces is the most practical. 
The four-legged type is unsatisfactory, because it 
is not adapted to uneven ground. Of the long lad¬ 
ders the style shown at B, in Fig. 302, is most 
satisfactory because it is easiest placed among the 
branches and is safer than the ladder commonly 
used. There are certain styles of step-ladders 
which permit of swinging the tongue over in line 
with the step portion, so that the whole may be 
used in the same manner as the long ladder. To 
my mind, a good substantial grade of the ordinary 
round half-bushel handle basket is the best utensil 
for picking into. It is all the better and, in fact, 
necessary, especially when fancy or tender varieties 
are being picked, to have this basket lined with 
burlap or some ofllier form of padding. It is never 
advisable to pick fruit in a bag, because of the 
bruising which is bound to occur. This bruising 
may not show at picking time, or if the fruit is 
used within a short time thereafter, but it is sure 
to lead to inferior quality and reduced prices if the 
fruit is held for a later market. One Pennsylvania 
grower reports a loss of 50 cents per barrel due to 
the use of picking bags instead of baskets. 
PICKING BASKETS.—A new style of picking 
basket, provided with a strap for about the neck 
and drop bottom, has recently been placed on the 
market. It is well padded and substantially built, 
and although we have not tested it thoroughly, it 
should prove of some value. One advantage should 
be that in emptying it need not be dumped—a fact 
which should promote careful handling, especially 
when emptying into barrels. If sufficient picking 
baskets are available they may be set aside as filled 
by the pickers, collected as promptly as possible and 
hauled to the packing table or packing house, and 
after being emptied returned to the pickers. Other¬ 
wise some form of crate should be provided, or in 
case the fruit is to be stored temporarily it may be 
emptied in the shipping barrels after first placing 
the loose heads face downward in the bottom. In 
any case the utmost care should be used in hand¬ 
ling the fruit from the time it is being picked until 
it is finally packed in the barrels, and it should be 
Various Picking Devices. Fig. 3G2. 
moved to a cool place as soon as possible. Piling 
in the orchard is seldom if ever advisable, because 
it usually leads to increased cost of handling and 
reduced quality. • r. h. bell. 
State College, Pa. 
ARRANGING A COVER CROP. 
A S to the article on cover crops, page 715, is it 
important that vetch seed grown in about the 
t same latitude or climatic conditions, be selected 
for use? Would rape be preferable to Cow- 
horn turnip because of the probable survival of 
much of it during the Winter, producing a heavier 
growth to turn under in Spring? Would you advise 
plowing a thin sod in July, sowing the cover crop you 
suggest in the above noted article? Then next May 
turn down the cover crops, and proceed as you advise 
for a cover crop? p. g. 
Norristown, Pa. 
We should prefer vetch seed grown in our own 
latitude, or in a more Northern section, if we could 
get it. This would be very difficult to obtain, how¬ 
ever. Most of the vetch seed now on the market 
appears to be imported. The plan of growing your 
own seed year after year is the right one. In com¬ 
paring rape with Cow-horn turnips, you must re¬ 
member that the rape makes nearly all of its 
growth above ground. It may be called a turnip 
run to top. The Cow-horn turnip makes a deep, 
large root, which works down into the soil. Both 
crops die out in our Northern latitudes through the 
Winter. A few plants will be left alive, but not 
many. The roots or the turnips stand the Winter 
better than the tops of the rape, and there will be 
a larger bulk of the turnip left in the Spring. In a 
moist season, however, the rape will make a larger 
total growth, and will probably add more organic 
matter to the soil. Our plan of late years has been 
to sow half rape and half turnips, thus obtaining a 
double crop both above and below the ground. A 
Harvesting a Tall Tree. Fig. 3G3. 
heavy seeding of the rape will be apt to smother 
out the rye and clover seeded with it, and for 
that reason the turnips are superior. In any com¬ 
bination of seeds for a cover crop, we advise the 
use of some rye. In cases where clover or turnips 
are killed out during the Fall the rye will be almost 
sure to remain anil make a fair growth. The plan 
you speak of will work properly, provided you can 
July 4, 
get a fair growth on your cover crops. We should 
use rye, Crimson clover, and either rape or turnips 
as preferred. It will probably be wise to use a 
quantity of lime after turning that sod over, as 
such soil is likely to be sour. A small quantity of 
fertilizer, too, in connection with the cover crop 
will pay, by increasing the growth of this crop, and 
thus giving more bulk to turn under. 
HARVESTING TIMOTHY AND CLOVER. 
T WO things should be held constantly in mind 
by the farmer when he is making his hay. 
First, quality, which includes palatability 
and nutritive value; and second, yield. There is 
a time to cut clover when both maximum yield and 
highest quality can be secured at the same time. 
This is in the period of early bloom, when from 50 
to 75 per cent of the heads are in blossom. With 
Timothy this is not the case, highest quality and 
greatest yields do not go hand in hand. The most 
palatable and nutritious Timothy hay is made be¬ 
fore. or in, the blooming stage. If cut after bloom 
the yield of Timothy may increase as much as one- 
third in dry matter. With the clover, the yield is 
decreased about one-third in cut after early bloom, 
and the quality is likewise decreased. 
The Timothy plant after blooming, continues to 
elaborate its own food, which it manufactures, part 
of which is stored in the seed and in the stems and 
leaves, all of which are retained when harvested. 
The total amount of its nutritive value is also in¬ 
creased, as the total amount of dry matter is in¬ 
creased, although its nutritive ratio is decreased. 
In other words, the total nutrients in a smaller 
amount of early-cut Timothy would be as great as 
the total nutrients in a larger amount of the later 
harvested hay. The market demand, however, 
seems to be for a somewhat coarser, stronger hay. 
Such is obtained by late harvesting. This is to the 
farmer’s advantage who ships to the city market, 
because he can use the earlier and better hay, so 
far as his needs and wants are concerned, with best 
results at home, and obtain best prices for the later- 
cut hay which the market prefers. This assumes, 
of course, that at least 95 per cent Timothy is har¬ 
vested, and not 50 to 75 per cent Timothy and the 
rest daisies, dock, sorrel, etc. 
The clover not only loses in yield, but also in 
quality when cut after the early bloom period. 
Both the results are due practically to the same 
cause, namely, the great loss of the fine stems and 
leaves. Of the different parts of the clover plant, 
the leaves contain the highest per cent of protein, 
the fine stems contain the next highest, and the 
coarse stems the least protein. Inasmuch as it is 
the protein content of the clover hay that makes it 
most valuable, the loss of the most valuable parts, 
before and during late harvesting, consequently de- 
creases its quality. Furthermore, the hay is not so 
palatable. The stock will not eat it so readily as 
the earlier harvested hay. There is another consid¬ 
eration of a practical nature, which must not be 
overlooked. It is not always possible to harvest the 
crop at the right moment on account of unfavorable 
weather conditions. Over this man has no control. 
However, other things being equal, the Timothy and 
clover hay may be so harvested as to give maxi¬ 
mum yields or highest quality, and in the case of 
the clover, both yield and quality. 
JOHN II. REISNER. 
THE PURE FOOD EXPERT. 
I T comes upon us how times have changed along 
sanitary lines when the local paper announced 
a permit to sell ice. A neighbor has a famous 
ice pond where for many years ice has been sup¬ 
plied to customers. Yet before he could sell this ice 
in the local town it was necessary to obtain a per¬ 
mit from the board of health. Experts came and 
examined the water and the surroundings before giv¬ 
ing consent. Then the local “council” voted on it. 
Up to within five years no one ever questioned the 
quality of this ice. Some one came along and de¬ 
livered a lecture on “germs” and a craze for inspec¬ 
tion followed. A celebrated physician told us the 
other day that 70 per cent, of our farmers were 
using milk which would not pass sanitary inspection, 
and water which was “dangerous.” It seems won¬ 
derful sometimes that there are any healthy people 
left in the country, and still more so that the city 
is still forced to rely upon fresh supplies of country 
people to keep up its vigor. No one can question the 
right of the city people to demand pure food if they 
are willing to pay the cost of purifying it. This 
cost should not all be saddled upon the producers, 
and the standard of what is “pure” should not be 
left entirely to men with a “fad” as their only 
source of income. 
