"She RURAL NEW-YORKER 
141 
Harvesting Wolf River Apples in a New Jersey Orchard. Fig. 52 
^Yo know tlnit th-e gtjod is not all “interred with 
their bones.” 
It .«eeins to me that the sensible waj" to handle a 
Avood lot is to preserve the yonn,£? j^rowins timber, 
its yon Avonld any other f^rowins crop, and to har¬ 
vest each year or two those trees Avhich Inive 
reached maturity or those Avbich show si.cns of de¬ 
cay. As the larger trees jire removed the smaller 
ones have a much better cbance for growth; not 
only for the trunks and branches above ground, but 
also for the roots below. In felling large trees some 
of the small ones are sure to suffer, but a skillful 
Avoodsmau Avho can droj) a tree almost anywhere he 
lik«‘s Avlll avoid most of this damage. 
Quebec. c. s. moore. 
Corn in Hills or Drills 
I XOTlf'E in The It. N.-Y. considerable discussion 
in regartl to the advantage of planting corn in 
bills or drill.s. In raising corn three ideas should 
be kept in view, viz.: 1. liaising mo.st corn. 2. 
Observations on the Growth of Timber 
Experience With a Farm Wood Lot 
T IIMIiE is a small wood lot on part of this farm 
from Avhich was taken, 20 years ago, practical¬ 
ly everything that Avould make a decent sized saAV 
log. except the maples and a feAv elm trees. It may 
interest some readers to know that there are speci¬ 
mens of more than 20 different trees growing in this 
grove. AVe have taken a good part of our fireAvood 
from it for many years, being careful always to 
cut only dead or dying 
trees, or perhaps to 
thin out AvluM'o we con¬ 
sidered them too thick. 
At the present time 
tiiere is a fine stand 
of .voung growing trees 
with more Avood in 
sight than there Avas 
20 years ago. 
AVe Avished to haA'e 
a little lundAor on 
hand to use for var¬ 
ious ]»uri)oses, so last 
AV i n t (‘ r 1 looked 
through theAvoods and 
found (somewhat to 
my astonishment) that 
there AA’ere several 
trees Avhich could be 
cut to advantage, and 
Avbich Avould make a 
lUce idle of lumber. 
We cut tlii’ce bass- 
Avood ti'ces, tAVo broAvn 
ash. tAvo AA'bite ash, 
and five hemlock. This 
niiide OSS feet of bass- 
Avood lumber, 522 of 
ash lumber and 108 
hemlock 2x4’s; in ail 
2..‘>S1 board fe('t of 
lumber. 
r>y counting the an¬ 
nular rings on the 
stumps it Avas an ea.sy 
matter to estimate the 
groAvlh the last 20 
years. One ba.ssAvood 
ti'ee greAV f !• o m 12 
inches to IS inches iu 
di:imeter; a brown 
ash. from 10 to 10 
inches ; av h i t e ash, 
from 12 to 10 inches: 
and heml .ck from 12 
to 10 inches. The 
Avbite a.sh tree Avas 
dying, A\diich accounts 
for its small groAvth. 
T h e s e gains seem 
small, but the man 
Avho has scaled logs 
knows that an IS-inch 
log Avill make almost 
2VL> times as much 
lumber as a 12-inch 
log. and one measur¬ 
ing 10 inches Avill turn 
oAit four time s a.s 
much lumber as one 
Avbich measures only 
10 inches. 
I’he butt logs from 
the 12 trees Avhich AA'e 
cut made l.-loO fet>t of 
lumber. I Had these 
been cut 20 years be- 
fon* they Avould IniA’e 
made only 71!) feet. 
In other AA'ords, the 
gain Avas 701 feet of 
lumb(‘r from the butt 
logs alone of 12 trees. 
I am no forester, but 
it strikes me that the 
gi’oAvth of timber on a 
Avell Avood<‘d piece of land is a fairly attractive 
proi)osition. Altogether toe* much land, especi:illy in 
a countiy like these hilly eastern toAvnships of 
Quebec, has been stripped of timber. Many of the 
rough uu.sightly hilksides, furnishing scant pasture 
for a feAV cattle or sheep, Avould be valuable (as 
AV(‘ll as beautiful) today if clothed Avith a forest 
groAvth. AVe luvA'e much for Avhich to thank our 
ancestors, the hard.v pioneers, but they certainly 
Avent too far iu their eagerness to clear land. In 
this case “the evil Avhich men do lives after them.” 
Using least labor. 3, Leaving ground in best condi¬ 
tion. 
According to the experiment m.-ule at Cornell soa’- 
eral years ago, considerably more corn Avas groAvn 
Avben planted in drills than in hills. My OAvn ex- 
])erience agrees Avith that. If ])roperly done, less 
liiind Labor Avill be needed AAdien in drills and the 
land Aviil be left free of AA^eeds and be in better 
condition for a succeeding crop. 
'Po keep corn free of Aveeds it is essential to kill 
the Aveeds Avhen they lirst 
cide that drill culture and 
is the proper Avay to groAV 
start and no implement 
Avill do that (piite so 
<‘!fectively as a smooth¬ 
ing harroAA". Hut to 
use that it is quite es- 
smdial that tlu* corn 
be in drills, for no 
matti'r Iioav Avell the 
land be fittial or Iioaa^ 
carefully the h.arrovA’’ 
be used, it Avill occa- 
.sionally take out a 
plant. If in hills this 
Avill make too large a 
vacant si)ace but if in 
drills, it Avill scaredy 
be missed, so by all 
me.ans jtlant in drills. 
AA'hen corn is in 
drills the ground 
slioidd b(> gone over 
Avith the harroAV Avith 
the t('eth Avdl back, 
as soon as the corn is 
])l.a!it(‘d .and ag.ain just 
as it is coming up. 
This Avill 1 a v e the 
ground IcA-el and Avith 
every Avtaal k i 1 1 e d. 
Then the corn Avill be 
ready to groAV ahead 
of the Aveeds. 
In a Aveek or 10 
days go over the held 
again, Avhich Avill not 
only .stir the ground 
for the Imneht of the 
corn, but .again kill 
the Aveeds. Hy dr.ag- 
ging in the afternoon 
of a hot day, the corn 
Avill be so jliable tb.at 
it Avill be ]»erfectl.v 
safe to harroAA' the 
corn Avhen from eight 
to 10 inches high. Tin? 
Aveeder is a good tool 
to use. esiM'cially on 
light land, but it does 
not comp.are Avith a 
smootbing hari-ow. 
AVbeu corn is in 
liills the four stalks 
are all togdher ami 
roots c r o AV d e d and 
each stalk com[)etes 
Avith the otlu'rs for 
material of groAvth. 
Hut the s.ame uumlH*r 
of sta Iks s c a t t e r e d 
.along the roAV Avill- 
h.ave more room to oc- 
cup.v the ground. Avill 
more fully di'vdop. 
]»roduce larger .and 
better e.ars and conse- 
(pientl.v yi(‘ld a bettm- 
cro)t of sounder corn. 
Hesides this, Avluai so 
sc.atiered the corn Avill 
nuu-e fully occupy the 
gi’ound .and the AA'eeds 
Avill not have so good 
a ch.ance to grow 
after c u 1 t i v a t i o n 
cea.ses. Let any man 
t r y the experiment 
fairly and he Avill de- 
tbe use of the harroAV 
corn. 
J. S. AVOOUAVAKU. 
Wolf River in a New Jersey Orchard 
'T^IIE picture shoAvs AAL F. Ely, of Alorris f'ou: 
ty, N. J., picking AA'olf Itiver ai)i)!es from 
tree in his orchard referred to in R. N.-Y. Ja: 
nary 0. page 2. These apples sold at fancy prices i 
the XcAvark, X. .1., market. 
