•Uhe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
» 
1149 
five anrl ten or more acres. These concerns agree 
/to cultivate the trees for five or six years, when the 
land, sold for exorbitant prices, will l)e turned over 
to the buyers, who have been made to believe that 
they will thereafter receive an independent income. 
Ninety-seven per cent, of these orchard companies 
are straight fraud.s, some of which issue bonds and 
stock, upon which they pay Interest for a few years 
out of the money received from investors, the prin¬ 
cipals in the meantime reorganizing their organiza¬ 
tion, putting their ill-gotten money in other names, 
and after getting out from all respomsihility turn 
over the worthless orchard land to the buyers, who 
are largely in cities, many of whom cannot afford to 
lose their investment of hard-earned money, often 
of long-time savings. 
To cite one illu.stratiou of this 
llagi’ant abu.se of exploitation of the 
public by those fraudulent orchard 
land companies, a few years ago a 
New York City lawyer came to me 
to make examination of a tract of 
land in Orange County, N. Y., for 
the purpose of planting upon it ex¬ 
tensive apple orchards and to make 
a full report upon its suitability for 
the purpo.se. The examination was 
made and report rendered, after 
which I was asked if I would be the 
advi.sor in the enterprise and direct 
the policy of a comi)any that was 
interested in this tract of land. 
Ttpou recpiest for a statement to be 
furnished regarding the plans and 
purposes of the company, the name 
of the parties interested, the capital 
they represented, the following 
statement was brought in: The 
land was to be planted with 150 
trees to the acre, upon which a cot¬ 
tage was to bo built, the land sold 
in units of one and up to five acres 
at a very high price, everything to 
be done in a strictly high-class man¬ 
ner in its development. 
The profits from these 150 trees 
per acre were to be as follows: Sec¬ 
ond year from planting, 25 per cent, 
on the investment; third year, 25 
per cent.; fourth year, 45 per cent.; 
fifth year, 55 per cent.; sixth year, 
G5 per cent.; seventh year, 75 per 
cent. After going through the pa¬ 
pers the blue pencil was slashed 
through the estimate of profits and 
the project branded as a bald fraud, 
with notice given that my r*eport or 
name must not be u.sed in connection 
with it. 
This ingenious lawyer, however, 
got out a prospectus with my name 
in it, by quoting from Tiik 11. N.-Y. 
an opinion I had given on the value 
of land in bearing orchards in Ni- 
agai’a and Orleans Counties in West¬ 
ern New York. He was turned over 
to the Federal authorities for fraud¬ 
ulent use of the United States mails 
and was sentenced for a term in 
the Atlanta pri.son. 
In the present policy of conserv¬ 
ing all resources of our country, the 
Federal authorities are getting after 
these land and mining sharks who 
are exploiting the public with their 
fraudulent schemes, and are giving 
them prison terms. 
In 1890, in making an investiga¬ 
tion of the conditions of the rural 
population of New York State for a 
New York committee, I found, in re¬ 
ports from a large number of farms in Western New 
York, that the average income from orchards over a 
period of five years for farms where gi'ound crops 
were raised and only ordinary care given to apple 
trees, was $85 an aci’e. Where spraying was done, 
with some pruning and cultivation, the income was 
$120 an acre; where thorough spraying and culture 
were given, the income was $210 an acre. 
1 personally examined a five-acre Baldwin orchard 
under high culture belonging to II. II. Brown, one 
of the best orchardists in Orleans County, the 
apples of which sold that year for .$3,500, or $700 an 
acre. 
Tn determining the value of a tree or plant for 
reimbursement for damage, the basis sliould be upon 
the average net income received over a term of years. 
While the law does not allow prospective profits to 
enter into such instances, the loss of trees planted 
will spread 20 acres a day. and may be placed on an 
ordinary wagon, the power being supplied by a 
special shaped iron chain drive attached to the rear 
right-hand wheel. A disk located in the rear spreads 
perfectly a swath 15 to 20 feet wide, according to 
thickness desired. The machine will do the same 
work otherwise necessary, using hand power, as de¬ 
manded of two teams and eight men. It is not only 
a soil conserver but a labor savei’, and as the orig¬ 
inal price of the machine is nominal, the parts sim¬ 
ple, there is little u]>keep expense. 
Chautauqua Co.. N. Y. eaule w. cage. 
R. N.-Y.—Of course, this refers to sections where 
straw is plentiful and cheap. In Northern New .Jer¬ 
sey straw often .sells at .$25 or more per ton, and at 
ft 
that price it would not i)ay to spread it as Mr. Cage 
states. Near large towns some farmers furnish 
straw to stable keepers and haul the manure back as 
payment. Anything which adds to the use of straw 
or any other organic matter is a good thing. 
Orchard Land as Loan Security 
N o better security can be found for loans than 
land planted to orchards that receive proper 
care and culture. The decision of the Federal I.oan 
Board not to loan money upon land planted with 
orchards, as having no substantial value except for 
orchard purposes, without doubt has been made for 
the reason that such vast losses have been experi¬ 
enced by investors who have been the victims of 
companies that have bought large tracts of worth¬ 
less land, planted it Avith worthless trees, and sold 
it to thousands of deluded buyers in units of one to 
Machine for Spreading Straw on Land. Fig. 526 
, Apricot Tree Smothered by Himalaya Blackberry. Fig. 527 
The Himalaya Blackberry in California 
Rampant in Growth and Prodigious in Crop 
T his berry has been given a thorough trial in 
California for over 12 years, and it has been 
proved to be the most thrifty small fruit groAvn 
there; it is, in fact, so vigorous a grower that it 
crowds overything out of the garden unless it is 
kept severely within bounds. I haA-fi seen gardens 
that were entirely overrun Avith it in a feAv years. 
It groAvs very freely from seed; even birds carry 
and spread the seed, so there is a possibility, in 
time, that it will be one of the most noxious plants 
in the State. So far I have not .seen any improve¬ 
ment in the berries that have come from seedling.s. 
I presume in time it Avill be crossed Avith some of 
our native dewberries or improved 
fruit of the same species, and a 
larger and finer fruit be the re¬ 
sult. 
While the berry is not very large, 
still, Avhere it has been groAvn on 
rich, irrigated soil, and properly 
trimmed, the fruit is sufficiently 
large, and, Avhen fully ripe, it has 
a delicious flavor. A better berry 
to eat Avith cream I do not know, 
excepting, of course, the straAvberry. 
It is a prodigous cropper, and its 
.season extends over .several months. 
With all this, it does not seem to be 
much of a commerciai berry. As a 
backyard fruit it holds first place 
here; every garden seems to have a 
feAA^ vines trailing on the rear gar¬ 
den fence. 
The vines pictured in Fig. 527 
Avere groAving on my place and sIioav 
its rampant groAvth ; they scrambled 
up on some adjacent apricot trees 
and smothered the latter. The fruit 
cluster is shoAvn in Fig. 525. 
California. av. a. pra'al. 
R. N.-Y.— While this plant does 
Avell on the I’acific coast it has not 
proved a success in the East. Noav 
and then Ave have reports of its 
Avell-doing here, but as a rule Ave 
could not advise planting in this sec¬ 
tion except as a curiosity or for 
amateur use. 
Increase Fertility With Straw 
A new York farmer increased 
his AA’heat crop 10 bushels per 
acre by spreading straAV Avhich 
could not otherAvise be used over the 
land. He found the oat, barley and 
rye crop Avas increased from eight 
to 10 bushels per acre by the same 
method of using struAV. StraAV is 
invaluable during a dry period in 
the groAving season. It has been 
found that a ton of .straAV Avill ab¬ 
sorb tAvo tons of Avater, and deliver 
it to the groAving crop Avhen needed. 
It akso adds humus to the land ex¬ 
actly on the same process as a lamp 
Avick delivers oil to the flame—it 
keeps moisture at the Avorking point. 
Experiment station Avorkers calcu¬ 
late that spread straAV Avill be Avorth 
from $2.50 to $4 per ton to the farm¬ 
er, according to the condition of the 
soil. 
If you have light soil AAdiich is de¬ 
ficient in organic matter, there is 
nothing cheaper or better than 
.straAV. It Avill serve to keep the soil 
from bloAving, as the addition of 
humus often stops bloAviug and means saving 
a good crop in the start, Avhen Avinds often 
play havoc. Spread straAV Avill hold snoAV on 
the ground during the Winter, and save the Avheat 
crop from Avinter-killiug. Even a thin coat Avill 
catch and hold the snoAA% causing it to melt evenly, 
not only serving as a protection, but also saving the 
moisture for a time Avhen it Avill be needed. This 
gives the Avheat crop a good healthy early start in 
the Spring, Avhen moisture is demanded to secure 
an even groAvth. 
Spread straAV, evenly distributed, is a valuable 
nurse for Alfalfa. The straAV protects the tender 
plants from the scorching heat of the sun and acts 
as an insurance against baking ground, giving the 
plants a good start. It also keeps the Avind from 
Avhipping off tender plants. 
The machine sliowu in the illustration, Fig. 520, 
