1074 
July 12, 1910 
Iht RURAL NEW-YORKER 
HOPE FARM NOTES 
A number of people have asked how 
we “cultivate” a sod orchard with a 
mowing machine. We could easily have 
shown them had they been on hand June 
2S. There had been two days of showers, 
ending on Friday with a mild deluge. 
No one found fault with that, except 
• -perhaps the Bible class, which met here 
for a picnic and had to stay indoors. Our 
soil had become quite dry, and this down¬ 
pour came like a drink of water in the 
desert. By Saturday morning the wind 
had begun chasing the clouds, off the sky. 
It seemed as if Nature were saying “I 
have given you two raw June days, and 
now before the month goes out you shall 
have a rare one.” So when I looked out 
at waving trees and sunshine I knew it 
was time to get into action in that distant 
orchard. As you can see from the map. 
New Jersey is a thumb of land—almost 
an island—except for a narrow neck 
where it joins New York. We have all 
sorts of soil aud climate. We in the 
North may have an abundance of rain. 
Then a brisk wind will start up as if to 
say: “We have given you more water 
than you deserve. Other parts of the 
State are suffering, so I will suck out 
part of this moisture and drop it down in 
Ocean or Atlantic counties, where they 
need it.” And the wind proceeds to do 
it. leaving a crust on our soil. Then 
the wind gets busy at something else and 
very likely spills the water in the ocean 
instead of on the dry land. 
$ Jje ^ 
So at breakfast we planned to heat the 
wind by holding that moisture in the soil. 
Oatmeal, fried eggs and bread and butter 
gave us the fuel energy for a good day’s 
work. So we organized our forces for a 
campaign to save water. Thomas hitched 
Broker and Tom to the mowing machine. 
The boys put Bob in the light wagon and 
loaded in about nil the Barium phosphate 
this old fellow could haul over the hill. 
They put in two scythes, a couple of 
fork's and hoes. Tom and Broker repre¬ 
sented the artillery, and they started 
ahead. Usually in a battle the sharp¬ 
shooters go ahead. At least they used 
to do that, but modern warfare has 
changed that. As the best substitute we 
could muster for a flying machine I went 
ahead with a hoe to plan out the battle. 
The orchard we had in view is far at the 
western end of the farm. Our farm is 
about 500 feet wide, and with nearly 100 
acres you figure out its length. Some 
years ago the then owner of this place 
went far to the western end and cleared 
a field—just a hole scooped out of the 
woods. Why he did I never could tell. 
The soil is not superior and it would have 
been better economy to work nearer the 
buildings. But when we came here we 
found this field rapidly going back to 
brush and birch. Very likely we would 
have been better off if we had let it go, 
but for some reason we stayed by it and 
cleared it up. 
* * * * * 
As every farmer knows, a field nearly 
a mile from the house receives scant at¬ 
tention. What a paradise it may be¬ 
come for a lazy hired man or boy ! We 
have had cow peas. corn, rye and grass 
and peaches over there. The crows and 
chipmunks got most of the corn and Sum¬ 
mer “boarders” were peaches at harvest¬ 
ing the crop. Bye and hay were usually 
good, but there is a small swamp and a 
long thick wood to haul through. So we 
finally planted apple trees and devised a 
plan for caring for them that would not 
take too much time and labor. Wealthy, 
McIntosh and Baldwin are three varieties 
which are quite well able to help them¬ 
selves. and that is what they have to do 
in “Westward IIo!” U named it after 
Charles Kingsley’s book, for this field 
surely represented an adventure in an un¬ 
known land. “What’s in a name?” asks 
Borneo. Sometimes there is more than 
you think. This name has helped my 
children a little to look up good litera¬ 
ture. 
***** 
When 1 came out of the wet woods 
that morning I found a field like a small 
pocket, fully protected on all sides. There 
were some 150 trees, young and old. low- 
down. bushy trees, such as you always 
find when they are left in sod with a 
chance to head themselves. They were 
planted 20 ft. each way. Wealthy being 
used as fillers. The alleys between the 
tree rows were thick with Alsike clover. 
On the better part of the land this clover 
stood nearly 30 in high, while on the 
poorer soH it was shorter and more scatter¬ 
ing. Along the rows of trees was a nar¬ 
row strip of grass with daisies, “black- 
eyed Susans” and other tall weeds. I 
think the water rises a little from the 
swamp into this field so that the grass 
and weeds usually grow well. I have 
not been able to get a good stand of 
either Bed or Sweet clover in this field, 
but the Alsike does well. Some lime has 
been used in years past, but not enough 
to bring in Bed clover. The Alsike is 
satisfactory, and I have not been able to 
see that lime is directly needed by most 
varieties of apples. During the Winter 
these trees were pruned lightly, and we 
blew on the dust just after the bloom 
fell. That is all the work put into this 
orchard until I came through the woods 
with my hoe, and Tom and Broker lum¬ 
bered behind with the mowing machine. 
* * * * * 
Our problem was easy to understand. 
The rain had soaked that ground and the 
trees were well covered with small ap¬ 
ples. Tlie wind was sucking up the mois¬ 
ture, and every one of the millions of 
plants was pumping it away into the air. 
Any increase these apples might make in 
size must be 90 per cent water, and the 
trees must find that water in the soil. 
In the cultivated orchard the harrows 
would be used to make a thin layer of 
fine soil on top so as to prevent the water 
from rising. Here the problem was to 
turn these millions of suckers into suc- 
corers and make them hold instead of giv¬ 
ing up. So Thomas went ahead with the 
horses and cut the alleys as he would a 
ha.vfield. It requires a steady team and 
a good driver to cut close to a row of 
trees, and not bark them or break the 
mower knife. In these days no one likes 
to mow with a scythe, but it is better to 
leave a narrow strip on the row rather 
than to run the risk of cutting the trees. 
One of the boys followed with a scythe 
and cut what the mower could not reach. 
Another came with a hoe and chopped out 
a small circle around the smaller trees. 
Cherry-top dumped the bags of phosphate 
into the wagon body and drove along the 
tree rows, throwing out about 5 lbs. of 
phosphate around each bearing tree. This 
did not take long and the boy took an¬ 
other scythe and helped cut the tree 
rows and the weeds around the outside. 
The scheme was to cut off every blade 
or stem that was pulling water from the 
soil, and leave it on the ground to stop 
water from going. 
My own job was that of head muleher. 
This means that I took a fork and threw 
great piles of that fine clover and all the 
weeds T could find around the trees—on 
top of the phosphate. It takes some 
nerve to do that when hay sells at $40 a 
ton. In former years I have left that job 
to men and boys, and their hearts failed 
them. They raked up the clover and 
hauled it to the barn. If you want to 
feed clover to a tree go and do it your¬ 
self! You will get little help or applause. 
Even good-natured old Broker snapped at 
me as I threw a big forkful of clover un¬ 
der a Wealthy tree ! If I can read horse 
language he was growling to Tom: 
“He ought to be ashamed of himself— 
feeding fine clover to a tree! Here we 
are, eating rye hay. and next Winter we 
must dull our teeth on cornstalks, while 
he complains that hay costs $40 per ton. 
Is he crazy, to leave* clover to rot under 
a tree?” 
Now. Tom has a little trotting blood in 
his big frame. That means brains, as 
well as bulk, and he came back sensibly: 
“You min,d your own business and pull 
your share and I’ll bet this man can 
mind his. You have enough to eat. and 
yon ought to be thankful you don’t have 
to haul that clover through that swamp 
and over the hill.” 
I have had many a man talk like Brok¬ 
er. but few gave us the credit for sense 
that Tom does. If hay is worth two cents 
a pound, the fine McIntosh on these trees 
will sell for five cents! This green clover 
contains about 75 per cent of water, 
while the apples carry nearly 90 per 
cent. A ton of green Alsike carries about 
10 lbs. of nitrogen, three of phosphoric 
acid and 10 of potash, or nearly as much 
as stable manure. How wquld Broker 
like to haul about 15 tons of manure up 
two steep hills and through a soft swamp? 
Do I mean to say that this stuff we are 
cutting in this orchard is equal to 15 
loads of manure? I do. It is worth 
more, and it is all hauled and spread for 
ns. It would not pay to haul it from this 
far distant field and back again. A ton of 
McIntosh apples of good quality will sell 
for nearly $100 this year, and that will 
mean about 1.S00 lbs. of water. This 
mass of clover and weeds not only feeds 
the trees, but it holds the water in the 
soil. And so I go ahead throwing big 
forkfuls of clover under the trees. 
***** 
. This rough and ready method of grow¬ 
ing apples suits the conditions in this 
back field. It has been called a lazy 
plan’s method. I do not advise it except 
in special cases or where the conditions 
are just right. Over in “Westward ITo !” 
it pays. The trees have cost us very lit¬ 
tle and are now in good condition.’ car¬ 
rying a good crop of promising fruit. 
They have had very little fertilizer. Last 
year we gave them a good dressing of 
chicken manure, and when the grass was 
cut each had a dose of this phosphate on 
the ground, with the mulch over it. I 
am satisfied that this treatment stimulat¬ 
ed the production of fruit buds and 
brought the trees back this year with a 
larger crop. I notice that the Baldwins 
in this back field where the phosphate 
has been used are coming into fruit ear- 
lVr r t , han tllose in onr cultivated orchards. 
\\ e have not used any chicken manure 
this year. I felt that the clover cut and 
pilod around tho trees would the 
nitrogen they needed, and with the phos¬ 
phate carry them through. I think I 
ill try a little sulphate of ammonia 
around some of these trees to see if it 
pays. 
***** 
We rushed the work, aud by late noon 
the mowing was finished and the phos¬ 
phate all on. The “mulching” was not 
all done, but that can be finished at any 
time. The orchard certainly looked 
smooth and neat as we left it.' I have 
found a few trees that need a little stim¬ 
ulant. Next time T go over I will take 
some sulphate of ammonia and quicken 
them up. How do I know they need it? 
Why, by a combination of color, size of 
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