<Iht RURAL NEW-YORKER 
February 9, 1924 
208 
home to the kiddies. It's all very well to talk about 
quality, but unless it can be sold to the public, the 
Eastern grower is not getting any more for his fruit 
than if he kept quiet about the quality. 
The Eastern Apple Exposition, recently held in 
New York City, brought home very forcibly to many 
of the leading fruit growers of Connecticut and other 
neighboring States the fact that the average grower 
will not take the pains in grading and packing his 
fruit that must be taken, if the fruit from the aver¬ 
age grower is to compete with that from the West. 
It was clearly demonstrated that the average East¬ 
ern grower is not yet awake to the fact that he must 
get his fruit before the consuming public in an at¬ 
tractive package and that the fruit in the package 
shall be delivered in good condition. 
Grading and packing are the two factors which 
are going to spell success or failure for the Eastern 
grower, and until he realizes that he must grade and 
pack better, the cream of the market is going to the 
Western grower. It isn't that the Eastern grower is 
uneducated or cannot learn better methods of pack¬ 
ing or grading; perhaps he can already talk glibly 
regarding the proper way to grade or pack, but it 
has been so easy to sell his fruit, either orchard run 
or by making one or two so-called grades, that he 
has not felt it necessary to expend any more time in 
handling his fruit. Then, too, as a general thing, 
he has been able to sell his fruit at some price, not 
of course at the prices quoted in the market re¬ 
ports. 
It is very easy to market fruit in Connecticut; 
probably 50 per cent of the fruit grown is sold in 
open packages, and the half-bushel peach basket is 
used for the larger part of the open package market. 
This means that the outlay for packages is small, 
and the grower is willing to receive a relatively low 
price for the fruit, rather than lose a sale. The 
large commercial grower packs in barrels, but there 
are relatively few growers' who have to resort to 
barrels; probably not over 25.000 barrels are packed 
per year in the State. A few growers, principally 
those on relatively small farms, but who are growing 
a high grade of fruit, are packing in boxes for the 
higher class trade. These few growers who are 
packing in boxes are the only ones who are in actual 
competition with the fruit grower of the West, but 
it is my opinion that this class of grower is going 
to increase; and within a few years will be an impor- 
tant factor in the market. 
Every Eastern fruit grower will admit that the 
fruit grown here in the East is of superior quality, 
in those varieties which are adapted to Eastern con¬ 
ditions to that from the Western orchard, but be¬ 
cause he has not taken the pains to grade and pack 
properly, the buying public has resorted to the West¬ 
ern fruit, which has now established itself firmly in 
the minds of the consuming public. But the average 
Connecticut "Yankee” will not tolerate this condition 
as soon as it “hits his pocketbook, and there is an 
awakening among fhe progressive growers, and indi¬ 
cations are that within the next few years the 
Western grower will have to look elsewhere for a 
market for large amounts of fruit which have been 
coming into the Eastern markets. Betteer methods 
of grading and packing are being established, and. 
even the public is waking up to the fact that there is 
something behind the statement that Eastern apples 
do have a higher quality than those grown in the 
^V es t. S. P. HOLLISTER, 
Connecticut Experiment Station. 
Sudan Grass and Beans 
ARIETY USED.—So many letters have come 
to Mr. Foushee and myself concerning the 
Sudan-Soy bean crop described in my article pub¬ 
lished in The B. N.-Y. Nov. 10 that none of us has 
the time to spare to answer all, so I am giving the 
details asked for. The seed can be had from most 
reliable dealers, but buy from reliable ones only, 
those who guarantee that there will be no Johnson 
grass seed in the Sudan grass. Soy bean seed from 
one place is probably as good as from another, if 
not old. Here we use the Mammoth Yellow bean, 
mostly. North of Baltimore a little earlier variety 
may be better. Some varieties yield more seed but 
less forage than others. 
DRILLING THE SEED.—Mr. Foushee’s practice 
is to drill a bushel of the beans per acre and 20 lbs. 
of the Sudan grass seed, making two trips over the 
field. He has a ‘'Superior” drill, and finds that 
closing up the feed lets out about enough of the 
Sudan. He always tests his drill, though, on a bare 
spot of ground before starting in the field. This 
is the only safe plan. Where the grass is seeded 
alone, more seed should be used. Some are using 
as much as 40 lbs. per acre, and get a much finer 
hay at the first cutting, and it is more easily cured 
and handled. 
CUTTING.—It should be ready to cut in about 60 
days from planting. The second crop should be 
ready to cut in 20 to 30 days after the first, and the 
third in another 30 days. Here we can cut it four 
times if planted early in May, and it is cut when 
heading. When beans are planted with the Sudan, it 
is advisable to let it stand longer to allow the bean 
pods to fully form. Like clover, it should be raked 
Here we have one of those beautiful old elm trees which 
stand like sentinels beside the farm home and talk to 
us of bygone days. This one stands on a farm in New 
Jersey. Many a rich man would give a small fortune 
if he could have such a tree near his new house. 
up before the leaves are dry enough to shatter. The 
grass alone will stand more wet weather after cut¬ 
ting without serious damage, other than discoloring, 
than any other hay grass that I know of. I know 
of one field that had two weeks of rain on it before 
it could be dried enough to put in the mow. It was 
very black, but the stock ate it greedily, and in 
preference to first-class hay of Red-top and similar 
Who was it said the Leghorn is a wild, nervous bird? 
This picture doesn’t look like it. 
grasses, when given both at the same time, as was 
done for a trial. The grass tillers profusely, and the 
later cuttings are much thicker than the. preceding 
ones. A member of my family counted 125 shoots 
on one root after the second cutting, and I am told 
that over 200 stalks are not unusual where the seed¬ 
ing is thin. 
ANNUAL SEEDING.—Being an annual, it must 
be seeded each year, the same as most other grains. 
It is a heavy seeder, if allowed to mature. Those 
who plant in May or early June will do well to let a 
plot stand and ripen and save their own seed. When 
the plant was first introduced in the East we were 
told that seed grown east of the Mississippi River 
would be worthless, but the best seed I have yet seen 
was grown on a red clay ridge in this county. 
SOIL REQUIREMENTS.—Both Sudan grass and 
Soy beans seem to have less choice of soils than most 
farm crops, but both call for heavy feeding if good 
crops are desired. The bean will do something on 
quite poor soils, but the Sudan is a rich land crop, 
only; yet it will answer better to manuring than any 
other that I know of when put on poor soil. To 
illustrate: A few years ago a land-scratcher who 
had heard me speak of Sudan grass, sowed it on a 
lot of as sandy land as one often sees, and too poor 
to grow five bushels of corn per acre without heavy 
manuring. If he fertilized it at all it was with but a 
sprinkle of the common 8-2-2 on which so many 
Southern farmers pvaste their money. When I 
passed the field in July there was not enough growth 
on the ground to hide a rabbit anywhere, except on 
a spot a few feet across, and there the grass was 
over 7 ft. high and thick on the ground. On inquir¬ 
ing cause for this phenomenon I was told that a 
cart loaded with manure on its way to a field back of 
the grass lot had broken down and the manure had 
laid on the ground for a day or two before it was 
gathered up and hauled away, enough, though, being 
left to give that spot a good feed. In other fields 
where a heavy dose of manure had been appled to 
“red galls” the results were very marked, these 
“galls” giving the heaviest crops. Where heavier 
applications of commercial fertilizers were made on 
the poorer spots the extra amount of fertilizer 
showed far more than it would have done on a corn 
crop. On land that will produce 40 bushels of corn 
per acre with 300 or 400 lbs. of, say, an S-3 fertil¬ 
izer, an application of 1.000 lbs. of acid phosphate at 
planting time, and 100 to 200 lbs. of nitrate of soda 
applied when the grass begins to show green over the 
ground, and another like dressing of the nitrate 
after cutting, should produce eight to 10 tons of dry 
hay per acre if 110 days intervene between planting 
time and frost. If a good dressing of manure is used 
at planting time the nitrate of soda may not be 
needed. 
RESTORING A FARM.—Mr. Foushee began farm¬ 
ing his place about six years ago. He has owned it 
longer, but did not work it himself for a while. 
Some years before he got it the place was little else 
than a lot of galls, gullies and bushes, with a plenti¬ 
ful supply of rocks. The former owner had done 
a little towards improving it, but only a few acres 
were in producing condition. Now it is a real farm, 
though a small one. The field shown in the picture, 
Nov. 10, has been in oats and vetch for three Win¬ 
ters, and the manure from the stables has been 
hauled (part of it) out and spread on the oats as 
made during the Winter and early Spring. Some 
acid phosphate was applied to the oats at planting 
time. About 200 lbs. of acid phosphate per acre was 
drilled in with the Sudan grass and Soy beans, and 
the rest of the food for that crop came from what 
was left over from the oat-vetch crop. 
PASTURING STOCK.—In planting, Mr. Foushee 
has found it best to. drill the Sudan seed first. 
Neither it nor the beans should be put in over 1% in. 
deep. Deep planting spells failure here. If the 
beans have never been grown on the land it may be 
advisable to inoculate them. Buy the seed early, or 
you may not be able to get it at all. If pasture is 
wanted more than hay, stock can be turned on it 
after the first cutting. If hog pasture is wanted, 
plant rape in drills as soon as the ground can be 
worked in the Spring. When frost danger is over 
and the ground is warm enough for corn planting, 
run a cultivator between the rows of rape, and drill 
or broadcast Sudan grass seed, using 25 lbs. of seed 
or more per acre. On the low lands from New Jer¬ 
sey south the hogs can probably be turned on the 
rape by April 15. before time to sow the Sudan. The 
hogs will not be likely to bother the grass till the 
rape begins to get tough and the grass is rooted well 
enough so that it will not be pulled up. In case the 
lot is not pastured to its full capacity, it may be nec¬ 
essary to run a mower over it occasionally, as hogs 
do not seem to like the grass after it gets higher 
than their backs. While Sudan grass, being an 
annual and a non-legume, will never take the place 
of clover and Alfalfa, yet either alone or with Soy 
beans, it is the best temporary hay crop and Summer 
pasture that is now in use in this country. 
Person Co., N. C. F. A. bbown. 
