268 
right along with the sand flowing hack over the top 
of the 10-in. disks. That is in places where the 
disks were turning, but the sand was so loose that 
the disks cut in more than their diameter in the 
ridges. In places where the disks would clog the 
tiactor would pull the disk with half a yard of dirt 
dragging in front. The only place where the tractor 
was really stuck was in crossing a swampy place 
where the tracks cut through and left the body of 
the machine perched up on a bog. ' It took several 
hours to get out of that mess. 
CALIFORNIA COMPARISONS.—Now, to come 
back to our friend in California. In our country we 
cannot simply turn tin- team out to pasture when 
they are not working. They must he fed as much if 
not more in the Winter season. There are a number 
of makes of tractors which require very little care 
outside of the working time. It is possible, but not 
generally very profitable, to work a tractor on a hill¬ 
side, but neither is it profitable to work steep land 
with teams. Probably a third of the so-called farm 
land in New York-State ought never to have been 
cleared in the first place, and now ought to he put 
hack into timber as soon as possible. Any land too 
steep to work comfortably with a tractor is too steep 
to be worth farming. A horse may live 20 years, but 
he will not pay half his board the first five years, 
and is likely to be a pretty expensive luxury the 
last five years of that time. If a horse gives ten 
years of good service in farm work he is doing very 
well, and is. as horses go with us, a profitable animal. 
TRACTOR DESIGN.—It may be well to say a 
.little about tractor design. The farm tractor is in¬ 
tended to he used by persons who are not trained 
machinists. For that reason, if for no other, it 
should be as simple, and as nearly “fool-proof” as 
possible. It is also intended to be used in dusty 
places, and should be as nearly dust proof as possible. 
No one who has not seen it can understand how 
dusty it gets around a tractor. It often gets so that 
the driver cannot see more than a foot or two in 
any direction. In oiir machine there is a sheet metal 
hood over the valve stems, push rods and rocker 
arms. In the first and third motors this hood fitted 
tightly and no dust got in, but in the second it was 
very loose and a great deal of dust worked in and 
caused much wear to the machine. The fan drives 
the aii‘ right against the front end of this hood, and 
forces the dust into every little crack and corner. 1 
believe that reversing the fan so as to push the air 
through the radiator the opposite way would he 
much better. *It would not do in an automobile, be¬ 
cause the speed of the machine would tend to make 
a draft back through the radiator, and the cooling 
effect would be less, but in a tractor there would not 
be this trouble. To be sure, we should have the 
warmer air from around the motor drawn through 
the radiator, hut in our machine there is a great 
excess of cooling power when things go right, and 
when they do not go right there is so small a supply 
of circulation water that the only thing to do is to 
stop the motor and go for water. A radiator full of 
cold water will boil dry in about five minutes if the 
fan belt is off. One day something got loose so that 
the spark kept slipping back to the “retard” position, 
and I had to put in about three gallons of water 
every lime across the field. 
WASTE GASES.—In our machine the question of 
disposing of waste gases is a serious one. It is not 
possible to carry them out behind the rear end, as is 
usually done in wheel tractors. Shooting it down 
raises a lot of dust, so we carried the exhaust pipe 
out the front end. This is all right, except that 
some of the gases are drawn back with the cooling 
air and make it pretty bad for the driver. Reversing 
the fan will help this. It is only fair to mention 
that this suggestion of reversing the fan in a tractor 
was given me by the superintendent of the Harring¬ 
ton orchards, near Watertown, N. Y. I spent a very 
pleasant afternoon with him last September and 
learned many things about rhe pleasures of orchard¬ 
ing close to a city, as well as in an unfavorable cli¬ 
mate. He is agent for another make of tractor, and 
we had a quite enjoyable discussion of relative val¬ 
ues, and lie is so good a talker that he almost per¬ 
suaded me out of my prejudice against a wheel trac¬ 
tor, and especially a long wheel-base machine. 
Wayne C’o., N. Y. Alfred c. weed. 
A Prize Pumpkin 
In the picture, Fig. 108, is shown the prize pump¬ 
kin in the world contest at the Syracuse Fair. It 
was raised on the estate of Wm. Floyd, at Mastic, 
L. I., by his foreman, C. H. Ross. The pumpkin 
measures 5 ft., 11 in. one way, 6 ft. 8 in. the other, 
a total of 151 in. Another interesting feature is 
t 1 —t the farm hand in the picture is a descendant 
>f the tribe of Indians located at Sbinnecock, E. I., 
7ht RURAL NEW-YORKER 
and now resides on the Poospatuck Reservation 
about a mile north of the farm. c. H. r. 
Grafting a Girdled Tree 
Girdled fruit trees will probably not be so general 
a complaint this coming Spring ns usual, because 
fruit growers learned a hard lesson last Winter, 
and the present one has not been favorable for 
mice. The enclosed • photograph (Fig. 109) shows 
the results of what seems to be the best method of 
dealing with trees which have been girdled, broken 
A New York Prize Pumpkin. Fig. 108 
or have proven untrue to name. In the Spring of 
1920 we found a girdled tree about 1 V 4 in. in dia¬ 
meter. This was cut off about six inches from the 
ground and cleft-grafted with two scions. When a 
good start had been made, the poorer one was re¬ 
moved. The remaining scion was thereby forced to 
a remarkable growth. It now stands about seven 
feet high and is nearly one inch in diameter. 
New York. c. s. Thompson. 
Grafting Trees in the Pasture 
Last Summer I bought a small place with a 10-acre 
pasture. This pasture is full of young apple and pear 
trees, which came up from seeds where the cows 
manured after eating apples and pears. These trees 
are just beginning to bear. The apples are just common 
fruit. The pears are small yellow fruit, but juicy and 
A Tall Graft on a Tree that was Girdled. Fig. 100 
most delicious to eat. I thought at first I would cut 
all the trees down, but they are so hardy and thrifty 
I have wondered whether it would not be better just to 
cut out the scrubby ones and graft the best ones and 
make a good orchard of it. It is on a sidehill, facing 
the west and northwest. I have never done grafting, 
and wish you would tell me how. Also how to make 
the wax and when to do the grafting. Will these trees 
make good yielders, and do you think it would pay? 
Will it increase the size or flavor of fruit to take a scion 
from a tree and graft it back onto the same tree? Will 
seeds from Northern Spy or Greening bear the same 
kind of fruit if planted and grown? If I should graft 
these trees in the pasture, which are from 4 to <5 in. 
in diameter (some smaller), and just beginning to bear, 
how long before the grafts should bear? c. J. e. 
HERE is no reason why the wild trees in the 
pasture cannot be grafted and made into a good 
orchard. Of course, if the smaller trees are grafted 
February 19, 1921 
so low down that the cows can get to the scions and 
eat them or rub them off, the trees should be pro¬ 
tected with a fence around them. 
The trees that are from 4 to 6 in. in diameter will 
have to be limb-grafted; that is, the scions will have 
to be put into the sawed-off limbs which are not 
more than 1% in. in diameter, and a 1 in. limb is 
better. The whole thing in grafting is simply to get 
the bark of the parent stock to unite with the bark 
of the scion, so, of course, the barks of the two 
should both be young and thrifty. The scions should 
he taken from the trees in the Spring before the 
buds swell too much, and they should be kept in the 
cellar in moist sand or moss to keep them from 
drying, which would, of course, kill them. Or the 
scions may he taken from the trees at the time of 
grafting if the work is done before the buds open. 
The scions are simply the tops of last, year’s 
growth, and should be taken from the bearing limbs 
of the trees instead of the “suckers” that start out 
from the sides of the limbs. Of course, the scions are 
taken from the tree whose apples you wish to grow. 
Scions from a Northern Spy will produce Northern 
Spy, etc. There would be no improvement from tak¬ 
ing a scion from a scrub tree and grafting it back 
onto it again. But seeds from a Northern Spy will 
not produce a Northern Spy tree. They will pro¬ 
duce any old thing, just like the trees in your pas¬ 
ture. 
To make the wax, take resin, four parts by weight; 
beeswax, two parts; tallow, one part. Melt together 
and pour into a pail of cold water. Then grease the 
hands and pull the wax until it is straw-colored. 
All the tools needed are a sharp saw with fine 
teeth, a heavy knife to split the stock, a sharp pen¬ 
knife to shape the scions and a little wedge to hold 
open the stock while the scions are being put in 
place. Grafting may be done any time in the Spring 
after the frost is out until the leaves begin to start. 
If the day is so cool that the wax is too stiff to work 
easily take along a pail of.warm water to keep the 
wax warm. 
Trim up your tree somewhat, but don’t cut off all 
of the branches that you don't intend to graft. Some 
should be left to make shade for the young scions, 
and also for the tree to “breathe through” to sustain 
its life until the scions grow large enough to take 
their place. 
Now saw off all the limbs to be grafted, being 
sure to cut them, where they are nice and smooth 
and free from knots, so that they may he cleanly 
split. In sawing off the limb be very careful not to 
bruise or tear the bark of the stub to be grafted. 
Now split the stub to the depth of about 2 in. and 
insert the wedge in the center of the top, spreading 
the split just enough to insert'the grafts. The grafts 
will be something like an eighth of an inch in diam¬ 
eter, and should be cut so as to leave one or two good 
buds on the stem. Then cut the lower end in the 
shape of a slim wedge with that very sharp knife, 
being very careful not. to peel or injure the bark. 
Insert the scion into the stub so that the bark of 
the scion and that of the stub will form a perfect 
union. The slant of the scion should just fit the 
split in the stub. 
Now remove the wedge, being careful that the 
scions are not displaced. Next work up a little wax 
and press it down tight all around the grafts. (T 
forgot to say that two grafts should be placed in 
each stub, one on each side). Tightly seal the top 
of the stub between the grafts and also the split on 
the sides, covering the scion where it unites with 
the stub. Place a little wad of wax on the top of 
the scion to preclude bleeding, and tlie job is done. 
Next year cut out some more of the old tops, where 
they would interfere with the growth of the scions, 
and the year after all of the old top may be removed. 
In three or four years the grafts will begin to bear, 
some sooner than others, according to the variety of 
fruit. The pears should be handled in the same way. 
A tree or two of the natives may be left it you +' : uk 
the little fellows are so nice to eat: but Bartlett or 
some other large pears will be much better, and you 
can just as well have them. j. grant morse. 
R. N.-\ r .—We have found these wild seedlings very 
hardy and good grafting, stock. They are apt to be 
troubled with borers, and unless they are thick so 
that they can be left in even rows it is quite a job 
to spray them. The quality of fruit from sucli 
grafted trees is fine. 
The potato crop of 1920 in 14 countries from which 
figures are available is given as follows in bushels: 
United States. 430.458,000; Canada, 138,527,000; Hun¬ 
gary, 71,568,000: Belgium. 61.954,000; Bulgaria, 2,023,- 
000; Finland, 17.865.000; Italy. 51,440,000; Nether¬ 
lands, 91.303,000; Poland. 390.325,000; Spain. 104.- 
761,000 • Sweden. 60.226.000; Switzerland, 28.256.000: 
47.278.000; Algeria. 985.000. 
