‘Iki RURAL N £ W -YORKER 
1047 
General Farm Topics 
Are New Opportunities 
Coming to the New 
England Farmer? 
Of all the absurdities written about 
the so-called abandoned farms in New 
England, the worst is that most of them 
were the former homes of some good- 
sized Yankee families who gained their 
livelihood there by farming. I live in a 
town settled more than 200 years ago, 
which grew quite rapidly. Mills were 
soon built up on our small streams, and 
other business was carried on. On the 
farm where I formerly lived were the 
abandoned sites of a potash manufacturer, 
a tannery, and where a water power was 
used for some purpose not now known. 
Where I now live in the village, printing 
was done in a long two-story ell, also in 
two other places on the same street; fur¬ 
niture. coffins, etc, were made, and these 
houses were on good farms too. The local 
blacksmith made the nails, hinges, 
latches, etc. for their buildings. There 
was work for all, and nearly all the 
farmers spent much time at other work. 
Then came the railroads through the val¬ 
leys, manufacturing moved beside them, 
and drove from the farming towns their 
best workers, and also some lazy and 
shiftless (so-called thrifty Yankees) with 
large families, who moved into the fac¬ 
tory villages and lived a life of leisure 
on the earnings of wife and children who 
toiled long hours in those mills. 
The State has built and is building 
permanent State roads connecting the 
large cities built along the railroads, and 
with the modern truck the farmers have 
better service for shipping their produce 
than the railroads ever gave. With mil¬ 
lions of people who must buy all their 
food there are chances for those with the 
ability to choose wisely a location suited 
to the produce that they wish to grow, 
and this must be of a better grade than 
the average farm produces, especially 
fruit. The luxuries of a few years ago 
are the necessities of today. Fruits must 
be put up in smaller packages (probably 
cardboard). Fruit with a small bruise 
on it only skin deep is stale to many peo¬ 
ple now, especially women folks, even 
if it is in just the right condition to eat. 
Let the eastern grower show more gump¬ 
tion and not try to copy the western 
grower in packages, when he must sell 
riper fruit with its better quality to beat 
them. Our strawberry growers discarded 
the upright crate years ago, and use 
flats where every box is shown. Soon 
fancy strawberries will be sold in pack¬ 
ages one layer deep, perhaps a dozen to 
the box. plums ditto, also other fruits, 
and quality will soon count in farm prod¬ 
ucts as in other articles which people 
must use. 
The opportunities for making a good 
living are so many that I will mention 
only one, the roadside stand for strictly 
fancy goods. Let the other fellow sell 
the common kind. This is better adapted 
to those who have children large enough 
to help, and the market extends from 
fresh milk by the glass to flowers, and 
many a family could make a good living 
selling plants and cut flowers alone, al¬ 
though it might be better to add some 
other things. 
Years ago I was selling grapes in 20- 
lb. baskets, so I stopped at a railroad 
station where food and fruit were sold. 
No. he did not wish that kind. Could 
I sell him some large clusters packed 
separately, viz., nothing on top of them 
or crowded together. I fixed up some 
boxes with partitions in them so as to 
have a lower depth. These were sold 
only by the bunch and I received a fancy 
price. A man came in every day with 
some fancy Bartlett pears, ripe enough 
to eat. His pears were on shelves in a 
cool cellar, picked at the right time, and 
he brought them in just ready to eat, as 
he could do that without disturbing the 
other’s. He was receiving a price that 
would.have staggered the average grower 
who perhaps never sold a really nice 
Bartlett pear, or ever ate one. These 
were the best Bartlett pears sold to eat 
out of hand I ever saw, although I have 
raised a few thousand bushels, and sold 
hard, and let the other fellow make the 
profits when taken out of cold storage. 
These incidents happened many years 
ago. Have they no lesson to the growers 
of fruit for the roadside stand? 
Massachusetts. h. o. mead. 
Leaf Curl on Peach Trees 
This disease has become a regular men¬ 
ace to the peach crop with us, and this 
season it is very destructive. While vig¬ 
orous stock will survive the drain on its 
vitality a season or two, if it con¬ 
tinues the tree is sure to be ruined. 
We have six varieties in bearing 
for home use; an early cling, Elberta, 
Belle of Georgia, Crawford, Wager and 
Hallock, and two other sorts not yet in 
bearing, Rochester and J. H. Hale. These 
trees have been treated with lime-sulphur 
as a dormant spray each Spring, and there 
has in the past been very little of the leaf 
trouble. This season the disease shows a 
remarkable contempt for the spray. With 
two exceptions, that are very noticeable, 
all these trees are practically denuded of 
leaves, and are 'trying hard to grow a new 
crop, while the fruit, on the Elberta, Belle 
of Georgia and Wager have nearly all 
fallen already. The one Crawford stands 
as green and thrifty as usual, and the 
seedling that I have called Hallock, while 
not as resistant as the Crawford men¬ 
tioned, is showing little damage, looking 
thrifty and normal, both as to fruit and 
foliage, as compared with the others near 
them, and are loaded much heavier than 
they ought to be for the fruit to develop 
properly. I have known and grown this 
peach for many years, and do not recall a 
single instance when it has failed to come 
true without budding. It is a medium¬ 
sized yellow freestone, and does not have 
that acid flavor around the pit that is so 
objectionable in so many of the larger 
sorts. It is not a market sort, but the 
best ever for the family use, and a sure 
bearer. 
As all these trees received the same 
spray treatment, it appears, that this sort 
is more resistant than the others to this 
leaf-curl. No other sections are as badly 
affected. The outlook for a bumper peach 
crop is not encouraging. h. E. cox. 
New York. 
South Jersey Notes 
Great efforts are being made to thin 
the peaches so that only good sized fruit 
may mature. Last year the drought did 
not allow the thinned peaches to grow 
any larger than those not thinned, and 
so it goes. An expert recently said only 
Elberta peaches of over 214 inches in 
diameter paid their way, and they keep 
close watch on the costs of their crops. 
Carman trees after last year’s experience 
have been pulled out, as they come with 
the southern yellows which fill the mar¬ 
kets. Some have kept their Carman if 
they have but comparatively few trees, 
but no more will be set unless for local 
use. 
The Co-operative Association has pack¬ 
ing-houses and shipping stations at Burl¬ 
ington, Camden, JVIoorestown and Mt. 
Holly, and this year there will be two 
or more stations in South Jersey. From 
these stations the peaches and some ap¬ 
ples go out under U. S. inspection and 
guarantees as to grades and conditions, 
and are sold f.o.b. when possible. The 
Oriental peach moth cost us untold dol¬ 
lars last year, and we have more than a 
full set now on hand, both in the twigs 
and even in the little fruits. 
Many farmers along all lines have had 
two and some three very bad seasons 
(not able to clean up their notes last 
Fall), and while the banks have been 
doing all they can to help, this cannot go 
on much longer before the mortgages will 
be called and the properties sold. With 
taxes running close to 4 per cent and in¬ 
terest at 5 and 0 per cent you can see 
the young men who have bought recently 
are in very tight quarters. The land 
boom looking ahead to the new bridge 
now being built has caused the sale of 
farms near Camden at fancy prices, but 
that does not help the men who have to 
make their living from the crons thev can 
grow and try to sell. Last year at times 
it seemed as if more went to waste than 
was sold. h. t. 
Burlington Co.. N. ,T. 
/or the FORDSON 
Fordson power is the modem farm power. 
Put behind it an Oliver No. 7-A plow or an Oliver FDH 
Disc Harrow and you are using the most modem outfit 
designed to help you toward bigger crop yields. 
You will find the No. 7-A a pleasure to operate. Plowing 
depth is set by a powerful screw which will raise the bottoms 
completely out of the ground even with the outfit standing 
still. Each adjustment of the plow is conveniently made 
from the tractor seat. Of course there is a power lift. 
Equally convenient to operate and capable of equally good 
work under varied soil conditions is the Oliver FDH harrow. 
Here, also, a quick acting screw control, operated from the 
seat, permits the gangs to be angled with the tractor moving 
or standing. The flexible construction permits short turns, 
gives lightest draft and even depth penetration. 
Experience of three generations in the making of highest 
grade, practical farm implements, and in more recent years, 
close cooperation in the building of equipment for the Ford¬ 
son, has made possible the development of these new 
Fordson tools. 
See and compare their work with your own exacting standard 
of quality soil preparation. 
SEE ANY AUTHORIZED FORD DEALER 
