TShe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
871 
Peaches in Sod ; The Cider Business 
Experience from Ohio 
^liOST DAMAGE.—In article on page 78S, “Sod in 
Orchards,” you say peaches should have clean 
culture. T have just returned from the peach dis¬ 
trict of Lake Erie, where absolutely clean culture 
l»revails. I find orchards badly hurt by the cold, 
many orchards entirely dead, root and branch. My 
own orchard is in the nature of a compromise be¬ 
tween sod and culture. Between the trees is kept 
clean by horse tools. Around the trees, a block 
about 4xG is in tough Blue gx’ass sod. T remove 
borers thoroughly twice a year and mound up high 
around trunk. I did not lose a dozen 
trees out of 1,500. I think the grass, 
falling down, protected the roots and 
saved the trees. What say you? 
R. N..-Y.—Our experience has been 
that trees in a sod mature earlier 
than Avhen given clean culture and 
are thus better able to stand freezing 
during a hard Winter. We have no 
doubt this square of sod under the 
trees gave them some protection. W(« 
believe, however, that a bearing ]»eacli 
orchard shonld have some cnltiva- 
tion, at least, during the eai'ly part 
of Rummer. We know that in many 
situations apples will do well in sod. 
but we think the peach will always 
respond to culture. 
BFRTNERR IN RWEET CIDER.—T 
h.-ive l»een there and know whereof T 
sjteak. The proposition looked ,gox>d 
to us a few years ago. We put uj) a 
new building and press. Boiled cider, 
jell.v and apjde butter helped. It cost 
a good bit of money then, would cost 
double now, probably ,$4,000 now. if 
not more. We aimed primarily to 
woi’k up our own culls, custom work 
on the side. We ground tlie apple.s. 
pressed the cider, and wetted down 
the pomace. Next day rei)ressed 
Itoiuace. and used pomace cider for 
vinegar, boiled cider, jell.v. etc. 
Theoretically, the plan was all right. 
It did not work out. Custom work 
did not come until 10 or 11 in tlie 
morning. We had to keep ip) steam 
to I)e ready. Wages went on, nothing 
doing. After apples began to come 
in. they would come until dark, would 
press by lantern light, cle.aning mill 
after all Avere gone. Next morning 
press i)omace and boil cider. All had 
to be done that day. cleaning evajio- 
rator and cooker that night; mid- 
niglit again, and .so on. ad nauseum. 
.\s to results, coal and hii'ed labor 
took all the mone.v from custom work. 
Bomace cider vinegar paid small 
profit. Then we began to make ap¬ 
ple butter ,‘ind sell to private cus¬ 
tomers: sold as high as l.tXIO gallons 
jier year. This paid Avell. Boiled 
cider, cider jelly, always .sell at a 
.good j»rice. 
RELTJNG CTIEAB APPLER.—But 
we liave worked out a better plan 
now. We are close to several shop 
towns; lots of foreigners emido.ved, 
and they all want cheap apples. We 
now make four grades of apples, 
prices in proimrtion. I find tluit I 
can get more money for apjdes in this 
Ava.v. .less Avork. lots more profit in 
it. The spotted apples, stuff too poor 
for good cider, etc., goes to another 
mill. Rell the cider or vinegar and 
let the other fellow sweat. We have 
a good building standing idle; have 
.sold engine, and are ready to (almost) make a itres- 
ent of rest of outfit. We are not as fond of hai'd 
work as AA’e Avere once. iik.vky heukick. 
Ohio. 
mill or an engine, and dravA" from it in pipes for 
the house and the livestock. 
Don’t use a loop rope to haul hay shocks. Take a 
barn fork, put a singletree to it with a four-foot 
rope, and stick the fork in the shock. Beat it Avith 
two forks and horses and let a boy bring in two 
shocks each time. That’s Avorth ten dollars a day 
more than puttering Avith a rope, one shock at a 
time, a man and a bo.A'. The best hay is short and 
fine, and hard to take off the Avagon clean, or to 
take big forkfuls. Pse two forks Avith their trip 
ro]>es. Ret one on each side of the load and 
saA'e a lot of gatheiun.g and cleaning up. 
If you have :i l)arn with no beams across it. you 
.grjipli is AA'orth .$20 a year to the man Avith a big 
barn where he can use it. tihed eakmeu. 
Dhio. 
Fl( iiiisli Milk DcUrci ji Cart floiilcd hii Dofix. Fi</. 'i2G 
J’iihxidUifi Crufchcd Ffaiic for JlUihiniij CoiistrKcfioii. Fuj. 
'i.i7 
A Bunch of Labor Savers 
L OTR of men are groAving AA-eeds Avhen they 
nii.ght be makiiyg mone.v on a better croji that 
would choke them to death. Meadows are full of 
them because the men Avho sowed the .grass seed 
Aveie too economical. 
If you must pump or carry AA’ater and have -a 
hill near, or hi.gher ground, put a big cement jug 
in it and force the Avater up into it Avith a Avind- 
Iiiiproviiif/ <1 lUdhirun in Nrir York SInIc. Fift. 
are fixed. If not. when you build, do not have a 
single timber crossing it inside. IMake a shell and 
fhe floor all in one room. , If you driA'e your loads 
in on this floor to unload, put a single rope from 
the “trip” that Avill reach down nearly to the top 
of the load, just enough higher to lift the forkful 
olf the wagon. Then have a short run for the team 
to put it in the mow, a quick ruii back for the fork, 
and the boys in the iuoav can give it a swin.g. and 
‘•let her go” to its place. When the mow fills to 
the hei.ght of the load, .shorten the single rope, but 
never ask a. team to take a forkful an.v nearer the 
tr.-ick above than necessary. Also, do not ask the 
bo.AAs in the mow to tear up the bunch and move it. 
l)ut let them swing it where it belongs. This i)ara- 
Notes on Stacking Grain 
A ll over the country, and especially through the 
West, farmers are being advisexl to save wheat 
by avoiding some of the methods followed in former 
years. It looks now as if eA'ery bushel of Avhe.-it 
Avill be needed as bread for the people befor»> tlie 
Kaiser and his war lords can be .served Avith a disli 
of crow, and ever.v kernel of sound grain should be 
saved. There has always been a considerable Avaste 
in thrashin.g, and efforts are being 
made this year to induce thrasher- 
men to take precautions a.gainst this 
Avaste. I There has also been consider¬ 
able loi^s in the stacks Avhen .shocked 
grain Avas not Avell handled. :Many of 
these stacks are built so that the.v 
simply attract AA'ater and permit it to 
soak in. instead of shedding rain as 
they ou.ght to do. The result is tliat 
Avater sojiks doAvn into the stack, and 
in a very AAet season much of the 
grain sprouts and is Avasted. Tlie 
stack ought to be built .so as to .shed 
moisture and not absorb too much of 
it. The Kansas Agilcultural Gollege, 
in speaking of this matter, says: 
If every staeki'r of bound grain Aviil 
renieinber the main principle in .stack¬ 
ing. Avhicli is to keiq) the center solid 
and high and all bnndles sloping out- 
Avard, there Avlll be no danger of the 
stacks taking AA'ater. It is only Avhen 
the outer tAvo rings of bundles slope in 
as a result of the settling of the center 
of the stack that trouble occurs. The 
general appearance of the stack matters 
little, provided the right .stacking prin¬ 
ciple is followed. It is ea.sy for anyone 
Avho knoAVs how to handle a jiltchfork to 
become a stacker after practicing on one 
or two stacks under the direction of a 
man avIio understands this Avork. 
It requires good judgment and e.x- 
perience to build a stack or a shock 
so that it Avill shed Avater. There is 
an old story of Horace Greele.v' and 
his experience in farm drainage. He 
Avas }i great adA'ocate of draimige, 
and constantly telling others Iioav to 
do it, and the necessity for it. ’the 
story goes that he planned a system 
of drainage on his OAvn farm, being 
particularly anxious to take the 
Avater aAvay from soA'eral fields ms-ir 
his house. The drains Avere laid un¬ 
der Ms oAvn management, and ho 
claimed they Avere a great success,' 
I’litil after the first heaA-y rain, Avhen 
his cellar filled Avith Avater, and it 
Avas found that instead of draining 
aAvay from the house, his system of 
drainage had led all the soil Avater 
around it apparently into the cellar. 
Rome of the grain stacks .seems to l>e 
built on something of this principle, 
so that instead of shedding the r.ain, 
they invite moisture until much of 
the grain is spoiled. Another ])lece 
of .advice giA'en by the Kans.as Col¬ 
lege to Western thrashermen is to 
thrash out the shocked grain first, and 
then come back if necessary into the 
same territory to handle the stacks. 
Grain that has Ix'cn stackc<l ought 
to stand f]'om four to mght Aveeks so as 
to go through the .SAvcat. It Avill thrash 
out clciiuer and more readily, and if 
the stacked grain is left to the last there 
Avill not be so much loss in thrashing 
the shocked grain, as it Avill be possible 
to thrash it more promptly. While the 
aA'erage thrashernian prefers to clean up 
the territory as he goes, thra.siiiug Avlmt 
is ill the shock and also what has been 
stacked, this practice is AA'astefiil of grain 
and should not be folloAved this year. 
Most jAcople are disposed to make one job of it. and 
not cover the s.-ime territory tAvice. This year, in 
consequence of shortage of labor, a good .share of 
the grain Avill not be stacked, but Avill be thrashed 
right from the shock in the field. 
Rome of the preparations for killing insects contain 
kerosene, and avi* are told to “boil for 15 minutes.” 
Take our adA'ice and keep ki'ro.sene in or out of a mi.v- 
ture ofl' the fire. There Avas once a man Avho lit a 
match and put it doAvii into the gasoline tank to see if 
there was any gas. He Avill never do it again. 
Kaxsas is noAv being boomed as a dairy section. 
Rome one has said that if Iowa farmers put all their 
corn into silos and eA'erything outside tlie cornfiidds into 
Alfalfa they could make butter enough to cover the 
Nation. 
