1914. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1LJ41 
VAN DEMAN’S FRUIT NOTES. 
ORCHARD QUESTIONS. 
HAT kinds of soil arc best suited for 
the different tree fruits? 2. What 
system of laying out an orchard is 
to be preferred? 3. Should orchards be 
plowed deeply? 4. Has salt any value 
as a fertilizer for fruit trees? 
Richmond, Ya. w. N. w. 
1. As a rule the heavier or clay and 
shaly soils are bettor suited to the growth 
of apple and pear trees and the sandy 
soils to the peach, plum and cherry. But 
the apple, pear, plum and cherry also do 
well in the sandy lands when they are 
well enriched and tilled. 
2. There are various good systems of 
laying out orchards, but that which my 
experience and observation of over 50 
years has taught me is the best is the 
plain square system, especially if the 
plan of using temporary trees as fillers 
is followed, and I like it very well. There 
is the objection to it that the average 
ruit grower dislikes to, and often will 
not, cut out the fillers when they begin 
to ctoud, but this is positively necessary 
and should be done at all hazards. Other¬ 
wise damage will be done to all the trees, 
and the permanent ones will never entire¬ 
ly recover from even a year or two of 
crowding. The distance I have found to 
be the best for setting apple trees with 
. , the fi 1Ie rs in is 25 feet apart. At first I 
tried 16% feet in Kansas but that was 
■_o close that it did not give time enough 
for the fillers to do their full duty. Then 
I tried 20 feet and that was too close, so 
I have since planted 25 feet apart and ! 
with good results. By cutting out half j 
of the diagonal rows the trees left will 
be about 35^4 feet apart, which in some 
climates and soils is sufficient distance 
for full development of the trees, and no 
further thinning out is needed, but in 
the best apple soils it is not. In such 
cases it is necessary to dig out one-half 
of the remaining trees by removing all in 
each alternate row running squarely 
through the orchard, which will leave the 
trees 50 feet apart and give ample room 
lor full development and I have seen 
many apple trees that needed that much 
room. In no case would I plant peach 
tres as fillers, because they are sure to 
injure the apple trees to some extent by 
their more rampant growth. They need 
different culture and spraying from ap¬ 
ple trees and should be in an orchard by 
themselves. Same is true of about all 
fruit trees in various degrees. 
3. Orchards should be plowed deeply 
while the trees are very young and al¬ 
ways cultivated shallow, and as the roots 
extend into the soil the plowing should 
be shallow where they are. It is better 
to plow deep in an orchard than not at 
all, but it is an injury, to break the roots 
and the greatest care should be used to 
watch the mark and know what the tools 
are doing to them. Frequent and shal¬ 
low cultivation is the right plan to fol¬ 
low in an orchard of any kind. 
4. Common salt has no value as a 
plant food nor in any other way for fruit 
trees in the soil. It is soda and chlorine, 
and contains no potash or other ingre¬ 
dient that is used in fertilizing. 
The Muscatine Grape. 
EARS ago, when a boy in Eastern 
Massachusetts, we had on our place 
a particularly fine flavored white 
grape, which was known as Muscatine or 
Muscatel. I am at present setting out 
fruit on my place in New Jersey and am 
anxious to get some of the above variety, 
but up to date have been unsuccessful in 
locating it. Can you help n.e? 
Mountain View, N. J. ir. c. l. 
The name Muscatine is very commonly 
used as a popular one for the species of 
grape that is native to our Southern 
States, and botanicall.v known as Vitis 
rotundifolia, and is sometimes applied to 
the variety of that species called Scupper- 
nong. “Muscatine” and “Muscatel” are 
names that have been used for some va¬ 
rieties of the European species V. vini- 
fera, but they are quite unsuitable to 
Massachusetts and could hardly be the 
same referred to by the inquirer. But 
there are several very excellent white 
grapes that are suited to that region, of 
which the Wincliell is one of the very 
earliest and sweetest. It is also called 
Green Mountain. The Duchess, Triumph 
and Niagara are other white grapes of 
good qualities of fruit and vine. 
11. E. VAN DEMAN. 
LEGAL FARM MATTERS. 
Enforcing a Contract. 
A BUYS a farm, makes a trade with B 
to carry on the farm for one-half 
net proceeds, A furnishing team, 
tools, one-half fertilizer, one-half of pack¬ 
ing cases or barrels for shipping. B hav¬ 
ing no ready money, A offers to furnish 
all of the above and expense money for 
living until crops are turned off. A hav¬ 
ing died about two months after the 
trade was made, his wife and his brother 
agree to carry out his part of the trade, 
if B would continue his contract. A and 
B having been close friends, B agreed to 
do so, while A’s wife and his brother did 
not continue to do so, even disposing of 
team before B could harvest a crop of 
watermelons, also corn land plowed 
ready to plant, except fertilizer. B was 
to stay on the place for a year, but had 
to leave on account of not having living 
furnished and in fact nothing was fur¬ 
nished after a few weeks. B claims $500 
damage; there were no papers to show 
the contract. A witness was called in. 
Can B collect damages? w. h. b. 
Florida. 
Everything here depends upon questions 
of fact, which B will endeavor to show 
are in his favor, and the wife and brother 
of A will as surely endeavor to prove 
are favorable to them, and it will be a 
question of whom the court believes. If 
even the essentials of this contract had 
been put in writing, how much easier of 
proof it would be for all parties and how 
much less chance for misunderstanding. 
The wife and brother will claim that B 
did not stay on the land for a year and 
so did not fulfill his contract. On the 
other hand, B will claim that the actions 
of the wife and brother made it impos¬ 
sible for him to continue with his con¬ 
tract, and from the letter this appears the 
more correct, and it would seem as if B 
had a claim for damages against the wife 
and brother for the breach of contract; 
but, as stated above, it all sifts down to 
questions of fact, which must be proved 
by interested parties without the aid of 
any written instrument. If a friendly 
settlement could be arranged, it certainly 
would be the best way out. m. d. 
Hackman’s License. 
W HEN a man has a license to operate 
his own automobile, can an incor¬ 
porated village impose a license for 
“hacking” within the village limits, that 
is to take passengers to and from trains, 
handle freight, etc.? e. V. F. 
New York. 
The law gives the board of trustees of 
villages power by ordinance to prohibit 
the running of public hacks within the 
village without a license, and the village 
has full power to give or withhold a li¬ 
cense for good reasons. m. d. 
“It appears,” said the magistrate, 
“that you stole seventeen pounds of but¬ 
ter. It was found in your possession and 
identified positively. You have not ac¬ 
counted satisfactorily for it, and there is 
no doubt whatever in my mind that you 
are guilty. I shall send you to prison for 
one month.” “Your worship,” protested 
the prisoner, with tears in his eyes, “can’t 
you make it fourteen days? The stuff 
was only margarine.”—London Farm and 
Home. 
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