124 
ALFALFA AS GREEN MANURE. 
I1REE years ago, in seeding clover in the 
Spring on Winter wheat, I.followed a De¬ 
partment of Agriculture suggestion and add¬ 
ed to the Red and Alsike clover seed 10% of Alfal¬ 
fa, with the idea that the soil should become in¬ 
oculated in preparation for Alfalfa seeding. A 
sustaining amount of Alfalfa resulted, and the fol¬ 
lowing year I used 20% of Alfalfa with the clover 
on Timothy planted Winter wheat. This was a 
different field and the Alfalfa was very much in 
evidence, mostly thrifty but in spots the leaves 
whitened. Is this an indication of acidity? The 
success of this growth has opened some interesting 
possibilities. If as most experiment stations con¬ 
tend, corn on Alfalfa sod can be depended on to 
yield 20% increase, it seems to me that a* four-year 
rotation as follows, corn, Winter wheat disked in, 
Alfalfa seeded on wheat early in Spring, cut for 
hay the following year, and cut or pastured the 
fourth year, would justify the expense for Alfalfa 
seed. The manure supply to be handled on Alfalfa 
when pastured, enough to cover half the Held each 
rotation cycle. Would you consider this fertility 
conservation? All of us here grow tomatoes for the 
canners, generally a part of cornfield is used and 
clean cultivation makes it possible to prepare that 
also for wheat by disking. 
Has anyone of your clientele seeded Alfalfa on a 
tomato patch at last cultivation in place of Scarlet 
clover, and with what results? Success in that 
would open up a wonderful short cut, as in late Fall 
such a patch could be rolled smooth, and dead to¬ 
mato vines raked with horse rake without disturb¬ 
ance of the you,ng growth. This farm had been 
skinned for years, but I have gone nine inches deep 
all over it now, and with some Scarlet clover turned 
down, cow peas and Soy beans and manure conser¬ 
vation to the last possible forkful, together with 
some overstocking with cattle, have helped appre¬ 
ciably. n. w. i. 
Kent Co., Md. 
R. N.-Y.—Here is a question which can only be 
settled by a broad discussion. We hope our readers 
will give it. We have had varying reports from 
the plan of mixing Alfalfa seed with the clover. In 
some cases it makes Alfalfa seeding easier and 
surer, while in others no particular results are no¬ 
ticed. The particular problem here presented is 
particularly for farmers in Maryland and Virginia, 
and we would like to have experience from them. 
DON’T PRUNE YOUNG APPLE TREES. 
T HE NATURAL FORM.—At the recent meeting 
of the Michigan State Horticultural Society 
at Kalamazoo, testimony of a rather unex¬ 
pected nature was given as to the benefits of leav¬ 
ing young apple trees untrimmed. Usually we are 
taught to head in all annual growth in excess of 12 
or 14 inches to about that distance, perhaps less, so 
as to induce a number of lateral branches to ap¬ 
pear low down on the tree, and form a compact low- 
branched top. It is generally maintained that vig¬ 
orously growing young trees, if not shortened in, 
will produce long and willowy branches which can¬ 
not sustain the weight of the fruit, and which ele¬ 
vate the bearing surface too much. 
PRACTICE IN NEW YORK.—Clark Allis of New 
York thinks we make a mistake in pruning our 
young apple trees too much. Mr. Allis has 150 acres 
of modern orchard, and is considered an authority 
on apple growing. Yet, contrary to the usual cus¬ 
tom, Mr. Allis lets his trees grow with almost -no 
pruning until they are six or more years old. At 
planting time, he removes the surplus lateral branch¬ 
es, limiting the number of scaffold limbs to three 
or four; after that, the trees shift for themselves, 
unless it be that limbs which rub against each other 
are removed. Of course the trees are sprayed and 
cultivated, and make a vigorous growth. Mr. Allis 
is convinced that the trees form fruit spurs under 
this system of management much earlier and more 
freely than would be the case were the trees headed 
back and thinned out. And indeed it is an accepted 
fact that dormant pruning results in wood produc¬ 
tion. “I can grow fuel wood more cheaply in the 
wood lot, and prefer to allow my apple orchard to 
come into bearing,” tersely remarks Mr. Allis. He 
goes on to cite the case of one Udell in New York, 
who has left part of his 12-year Baldwin orchard 
unpruned, except for rubbing limbs, with the result 
that the untrimmed trees are now one-third larger 
and produce a third more apples than the trimmed 
trees,—both on same soil and receiving same cul¬ 
tural treatment. T. A. Farrand, ex-president of the 
State Horticultural Society, has had a similar ex¬ 
perience. On account of having too much work, he 
was unable to prune part of his young apple orchard 
THE RURAt NEW-YORKER 
for several years. He now reports that those un- 
trmmed trees are thickly set with fruit spurs, and 
have acquired the bearing habit in advance of the 
trimmed trees in the same orchard. Mr. Farrand 
recommends leaving as much of the tree as possible 
alone, so far as pruning is concerned, until after the 
bearing habit is established. 
SUCCESSES IN MICHIGAN.—Mr. R. A. Fennel, 
horticulturist at the Traverse City State Hospital, 
who grew the apples which won the first medal at 
the International Apple Shippers’ Association in 
1913, also believes in leaving the trees for the most 
part untouched while they are young. Mr. Fennel 
reasons that the function of the leaves is to manu¬ 
facture food for building up the tissues of all other 
parts of the tree, and that while young the trees 
especially need all the leaf surface jwhich they put 
out in each year’s shoots. Wm. Wilson, who has 
been a successful orchardist on the north shore of 
Crystal Lake, Benzie County, for the past 40 years, 
and who has grown medal winning apples for the 
Fan-American and Louisiana Furehase Expositions, 
goes a step further—he never prunes even when the 
trees are old. The man who grumbles about Ben 
Davis or Jonathan not coming into profitable bear¬ 
ing while young should take a look at Mr. Wilson’s 
trees, now seven years old, and thick with fruit 
spurs. 
SELF PRUNING.—As L. II. Bailey points out in 
his “Pruning Book,” even though the grower never 
prunes, nevertheless the trees prune themselves. 
Just as in a dense forest some of the struggling 
seedlings coming on must die from suffocation, so 
in the dense tree, some of the limbs never get to be 
very important, and die from excessive competition 
among the adjacent limbs for sun, air, and plant 
food. We note, however, that the men who claim for 
the untrimmed tree certain obvious advantages over 
the trimmed tree, do not maintain that no pruning 
whatever should be given. Scaffold limbs are se¬ 
lected at the very start, superfluous laterals being 
sacrificed. Limbs which are plainly out of place, 
such as those rubbing against another, are also 
removed early. 
Observation seems to show that while young trees 
not headed in do seem to tower up very fast, yet 
as they get older, and settle into the bearing habit, 
they acquire a compact shape, if planted far enough 
apart. We hesitate to cut off some of a colt’s legs 
because they seem out of all proportion with his 
trunk development; it may be that we are making 
a mistake in trying to bring up a young apple tree, 
all through its growth having the shape of an old 
tree of the same variety. So far as we know, no one 
claims that the peach or sweet cherry should be 
neglected as to pruning for five or six years, al¬ 
though it may be that some modification of the 
vigorous pruning will correct excessive wood pro¬ 
duction and non-bearing if such characters prevail 
in a given orchard. e. h. brown. 
Benzie County, Michigan. 
BIG STATEMENTS ABOUT LIME. 
E NCLOSED find leaflet on carbonate of lime. In 
reading this over I notice several statements 
which I consider very misleading, such as: (a) 
“Draws and retains moisture and nitrogen in 
the air.” (b) “Is used in place of fertilizer on grass 
and potatoes with good results.” Does not lime cause 
or help to make “scabby potatoes?” (c) “Makes an 
excellent absorbent in stable gutters.” We have been 
taught that lime added to vegetable matter and ma¬ 
nures releases the nitrogen, and this would certainly 
set free the nitrogen in the liquid and solids in the 
gutters, (d) “Flaeed about fruit trees producing bet¬ 
ter and more fruit, checking cxccss’ve wood growth.” 
Would not the liming of such soil about the fruit trees 
tend to make the nitrogen in the vegetable matter in 
such soil available and therefore stimulate rather than 
check excessive wood growth? I am a believer in lime 
and think that it should be more used on non-limestone 
soils, but are not some of the statements in this circu¬ 
lar a little too much? I know of two farmers using it 
as an absorbent in gutters as they say it is so much 
cheaper than treated acid rock. w. o. 
New York. 
This seems to be one of those cases where the 
author tries to say too much. It is a circular de¬ 
scribing ground limestone without giving any analy¬ 
sis at all. It seems to be just plain limestone 
crushed or ground. It is nonsense to say that it 
will “draw nitrogen from the air.” It may absorb 
a little moisture but the nitrogen claim is a foolish 
fake. It will not take the place of fertilizer on po¬ 
tatoes. Any lime that will sweeten the soil will 
increase the liability of potato scab. For this rea¬ 
son the general advice is not to use lime on pota¬ 
toes. If, as is claimed, this lime is good for pota¬ 
toes, it has little or no value for sweetening the soil. 
Ground limestone is used in some cases in the sta¬ 
ble gutters as an absorbent. It is safer than slaked 
lime for this purpose, but not so good as land plas¬ 
ter. The chemists think there may be some action 
to lose ammonia even in the limestone. We would 
not advise its use for the purpose. If this lime is 
what they claim it will help to break up the or¬ 
January 30, 
ganic matter and make plant food available. This 
of course would stimulate the growth of the tree. 
Ferhaps they mean to say that by putting on too 
much lime they neutralize the soil about the trees 
which do better in a slightly acid soil. The thing 
about this is that some fruits respond quickly to 
lime, while others do not. The author of the circu¬ 
lar does not know what he is talking about; or else 
tries to tell too big a story. 
FARM MANAGERS ASSUMING RISKS. 
() own or rent a farm and run it on your own 
capital is quite a different proposition from 
managing another man’s farm on his capital, 
and subject to his ideas, but the plan is not so hard 
to work out if the contracts are carefully drawn. A 
man professing to be a. farm manager should be 
willing to risk something on his knowledge and abil¬ 
ity. No wise owner will risk capital on untried 
land or workmen without safeguards and limita¬ 
tions. The owner and prospective manager should 
agree upon a fair capitalization, if the plant is over¬ 
capitalized, and should separate the farm business 
from personal business, such as care of gardens and 
lawns, driving horses, etc., with pay to the farm ac¬ 
count for work done on personal items and perma¬ 
nent improvements. 
The manager, if he works himself, should receive 
workman’s wages and privileges, and the owner 
should furnish capital to pay labor and running ex¬ 
penses, etc. At the end of the year if a loss is made, 
the owner has to stand it, and can try a new man¬ 
ager if he wants to, but if a profit is made the 
owner should receive the interest on a fair capital¬ 
ization and after this is paid the net profits, viz., 
gross receipts, less running expenses and interest 
on investment, or “labor income,” which is credited 
to the manager’s ability, should accrue to the man¬ 
ager. Some farms are so good that the manager 
can afford to share the labor income with the 
owner. Some are in the nature of an investment, 
and are in the process of being built up, where the 
net profits will be in savings over previous manage¬ 
ment and results obtained and in such cases the 
labor income should be based on such figures. In 
either case the manager must prove himself, and by 
his book accounts and results show the owner what 
is a fair basis for the next year’s salary. The young 
man who is not willing to take a chance and prove 
his worth is wanting in the qualities that make for 
success. m. 
A NEW “FARM MANAGER” SCHEME. 
[We .sometimes print new ideas or suggestions for 
the purpose of starting a discussion or learning the 
views of readers. The following is such a case. This 
scheme of handling a farm is rather new in some of its 
conditions. His live stock might prove as objectionable 
as children are to some owners.] 
AM a young man 26 years of age, trying to be¬ 
come a successful farmer. I am married and 
my wife is a school teacher in the city. We had 
a hired woman to do the housework. More or less 
all my life I have been on a farm. Last year I 
rented one for one year. 
I bought a team of brood mares and bred them 
to a purebred Belgian stallion, which took second 
prize at New York State Fair in 1913. A year ago 
last Summer I bought two purebred Holstein calves, 
and they are bred to the strongest Fontiac bull alive 
today. They are valued at $S00. Besides these, I 
raised a flock of Rhode Island Red chickens, and 
four pigs, two of which are brood sows which will 
be bred later to a Chester White boar. 
I wish to leave this farm because it is so run 
down that it would cost a great deal to put it up 
in shape. Besides, it is for sale, and the owner will 
rent for one year only at a time. It is only two 
miles from the trolley and five miles to the city, but 
it has been rented promiscuously for years. I have 
been looking for a farm and find that I shall have 
to go about 10 miles from the city, in order to get 
a desirable one. If I go on such a one, it will cost 
me a great deal to stock it with cattle, and for 
farm machinery. This expense I wish to avoid this 
year, so after I read your article, I decided to 
state my condition to you to get assistance. Do you 
think there are any of your readers who want an 
ambitious, hard-working, energetic young man to 
run the farm on shares, or one as a manager? I 
am sober, reliable, progressive and on the job every 
day. I can give any reference. I am willing to go 
almost anywhere, but I wish the privilege of keep¬ 
ing my purebred Holsteins and their offspring, and 
my two mares, and their colts. w. a. m. 
In Saskatchewan Territory turkey is selling at 15 
to 20 cents per pound dressed. Due to shortage of feed. 
The cash value of corn silage! Our estimate is 30 
per cent, of the price of hay in the mow. Prof. Harris 
of Wisconsin says $3.50 per ton when corn is worth 05 
cents a bushel and Timothy hay $7.50 per ton. 
