Voi. lxxix. 
Published Weekly by The Rural Publishing Co.. 
W. noth St.. New York. Price One Dollar a Year. 
NEW YORK DECEMBER 4, 1920 
Entered as SecondClass Matter. June 26. 1879. at the Post 
Office at New York. N. Y.. under the Act of March 1879. 
No. 4615 
Pla in St ory 
E ARLY AMBITIONS.—Seventeen years ago I 
was seized with an ambition to become a farmer, 
and free myself from the wage-earner's yoke, and 
tis Grant Ditchings’ successes in mulch culture of 
orchards was tirsf being reported tit that time. I 
jumped to the conclusion that his method pointed 
the way for me. The fact that he had made orchards 
of slow-bearing varieties like the Spy commercially 
profitable in about six years particularly impressed 
of a Back-t 
enthusiasm to set out those .”.00 trees in a tough 
sod. in that one day. Well, some of the neighbors 
took pity on me and helped, so with the aid of three 
men I got 50 trees planted that day. and had to go 
back to the city that night, leaving the neighbors to 
finish the job. which they did to my satisfaction. It 
took about a week to get the kinks out of my back 
and legs. Naturally, with so little realization of the 
actual problems of country life, I made numerous 
o-the-Lander 
which are bearing standard varieties; have accumu¬ 
lated quite a number of necessary tools, including a 
, power sprayer; put all the buildings in pretty good 
repair, paid off the mortgage and brought the farm 
to a condition where it nearly pays expenses. It 
may interest some other back-to-the-landers to know 
some of the mistakes I made and difficulties I en¬ 
countered. Perhaps the greatest difficulty was trying 
to develop the orchard and bold a job 100 miles away 
Getting Ready for the Holiday Procession. Fig. 599 
me. not realizing that he had especially favorable 
conditions, and had been all his life at farming. 
MAKING A START.—So I bought a run-down 
farm with run-down buildings in the hills of Ulster 
Co„ N. Y.. and started an orchard. Of the S.” acres 
of land, about 20 were fairly suited for orchard, the 
remainder second-growth woods, meadows, marsh 
and rocks. To illustrate my ignorance of practical 
conditions, on the first holiday after 1 had acquired 
the farm, L started to plant .‘>00 trees which I had 
bought. I had a spade and hoe. and started with 
similar errors of judgment, some of them costly, 
others humorous, but gradually teaching me in that 
expensive school of experience. 
PAST EFFORTS.—Looking back it seems a mar- 
\ el how we got through as well as we did. starting 
with a good-sized mortgage-, no capital and no ex¬ 
perience. However. I have had the help and advice 
of The R. N.-Y. all these years, and that is undoubt¬ 
edly the true explanation of the measure of success 
f have now attained. 1 have gradually developed an 
orchard <>f approximately 1.000 apple trees, many of 
at the same time. Besides apples I planned to have 
a succession of fruits, beginning with sour cherries 
and running through to late Winter apples, which 1 
still think was a good plan, but I have been unsuc¬ 
cessful so far in achieving that plan. 
SOME DISAPPOINTMENTS.—Of 100 sour cherry 
trees, perhaps 10 have survived, as I planted them 
along the roadside, and most of the way it was too 
wet for them, so most of them succumbed. I tried 
to save them by transplanting, hut they did not 
thrive after the spell of wet feet they had endured. 
