330 
The  RURAL.  NEW-YORKER 
March  3,  1923 
ROHRER’S  Sure  pay 
SEEDS 
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and  Garden  Seeds 
1923  Catalogue 
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Wr«f  ,"1 
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.  I.H.  Gregnr?  ^1 
15  Elm  St.. 
MarWehead. 
Mas*-  ”  ■* 
Established,  in  me 
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Connecticut  Valley  Seed  Gardens  |l 
:  tiiitiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitiiiiitiiiiiHiiiiiiiiiiitiimtiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitiiiiiifi  E 
^IIIIIIIIIIIIMIIII|IIIIIIIIIIIIIMIIIMIIIIIIIIIIIIIMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIt|lllllllllll|||||||||||7 
YELLOW 
SWEET  CORN 
LISTEN  a  moment  while  I  tell  you  that 
this  is  the  original  strain  of  the  Yellow 
Sweet  Corn  as  grown  by  the  Ordway’s 
in  New  Hampshire  more  than  50 
years  ago.  We  are  free  to  assert  this 
variety  of  sweet  corn  has  met  with  no  im¬ 
provement  except  by  selection  of  seed  and 
proper  cultivation  of  soil.  Many  testi¬ 
monials  verify  our  claim  that  it  is  the  most 
desirable  corn  in  existence,  being  early, 
tender,  juicy  and  extremely  sweet. 
If  you  wish  to  furnish  your  dinner  table 
with  the  best  that  Dame  Nature  affords  just 
plant  the  genuine  seed,  and  the  rest  will 
be  assured. 
Carefully  selected  seed  will  be  sent 
postpaid  on  receipt  of  price. 
x  lb.  -  -  .20  1  lb.  -  .50 
x  lb.  -  -  .30  6  lbs.  -  $2.50 
Address:  O.  P.  ORDWAY 
SAXONVILLE,  MASS. 
Horticultural  Notes 
The  Professional  Man  and  Fruit  Growing 
Information  Desired. — What  answer 
shall  be  made  to  the  professional  man  who 
requests  advice  regarding  the  opportuni¬ 
ties  in  fruit  growing?  How  much  capi¬ 
tal  should  he  have  to  establish  an  orchard 
and  bring  it  to  a  bearing  age?  How  long 
will  it  be  until  he  can  give  up  his  posi¬ 
tion  as  doctor,  lawyer,  merchant  or 
preacher,  and  support  his  family  with  the 
grown  in  the  orchard,  or  some  type  of 
live  stock  kept,  such  as  poultry,  dairy, 
hogs,  or  a  combination  of  cash  crops  and 
animals. 
Area  and  Capital. — The  man  who 
cleared  $1,648.34  from  272  trees  has  trees 
enough  to  occupy  about  eight  acres,  as¬ 
suming  the  trees  were  set  35x35  feet. 
These  were  mature  trees,  though,  scat¬ 
tered  about  on  one  or  more  farms.  To 
work  without  animals.  Of  course  there 
may  be  times  when  it  would  be  more 
economical  to  use  a  team  of  horses,  but 
without  them  the  tractor  would  do  the 
job. 
Many  professional  men  can  make  a 
success  on  a  fruit  farm  and  be  able  to 
devote  their  entire  time  to  the  job.  Suc¬ 
cess  will  depend  upon  the  man  himself, 
his  location,  the  man  who  is  hired  to  run 
the  farm  the  first  few  years,  and  to  the 
type  of  fruit-growing  practiced. 
Connecticut.  s.  p.  hollister. 
The  Hardiest  Begonia 
profits  from  an  orchard?  After  reading 
about  one  apple  grower  who  received 
$2,400  for  the  fruit  from  70  trees,  and 
of  another  who  made  a  profit  of  $1,648.34 
from  272  trees,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered 
at  that  the  professional  man  asks  the 
questions  mentioned  above.  Perhaps  in 
his  business  he  makes  a  certain  profit, 
and  by  increasing  the  amount  of  business 
many  times  his  profits  likewise  increase. 
Does  the  same  rule  apply  in  the  “fruit 
game?”  There  is  one  factor  which  many 
professional  men  do  not  consider— nature. 
She  smiles  one  day,  and  the  farmer  is 
happy ;  the  next  day  his  whole  harvest 
of  fruit  may  be  ruined  by  hail  or  frost. 
In  spite  of  many  drawbacks  to  the  fruit¬ 
growing  business,  it  is  possible  for  many 
men  to  succeed  ;  not  all,  of  coursh,  for  if 
the  owner  does  not  have  a  natural  liking' 
secure  a  good  living  the  prospective 
grower  should  plan  on  about  25- acres, 
and  from  that  up  to  40  or  50,. shut  too 
large  a  proposition  should  j,npt  be  at¬ 
tempted  at  first.  There  are  many  meth¬ 
ods  used  in  estimating  the  amount  of 
*  *•  ,  '  'J 
capital  needed  to  carry  an  orchard  along 
until  it  becomes  profitable.  One  such 
system  is  given.  Leaving  out  th?  first 
cost  of  the  land,  we  will  -cofisidCr  the 
yearly  cash  expenses  which  inust  be  met: 
Monthly  Swage  of  in&n  on  place,  $50  to 
$100,  depending  iupon  whether  fuel,  milk, 
vegetables,  etc.,  are  furnished.  The  year 
the  oroj^ird-  wa^  seti  there  would  be  the 
first  cost,  of  the  trees,  varying  from  $12 
i  r—  i  .  *  ■  • 
to  $35,  depending  upon  whether  fillers 
were  used  or  not;  cost  of  setting  for 
extra 'labor,  $5  jo  $15;  horse  feed,  $100 
to  $200;  taxes,  ‘  insurance,  etc-.,  $50  to 
'jyytr  :  ..  .• 
There  is  a  large  family  of  distinctive 
and  very  popular  house  or  greenhouse 
plants,  the  several  hundred  species  and 
varieties  of  which  are  all  strictly  tender, 
with  but  one  exception.  This  single 
species  is  <  .-casionally  advertised  as 
hardy  with  protection,  but  after  my 
rather  surprising  experience  I  would  say 
it  is  the  hardiest  plant  I  know. 
Last  .Spring  a  year  ago  I  obtained  a 
single  plant.  With  the  exception  of  a 
short  piece  of  stem  with  a  few  leaves,  I 
planted  it  in  a  sheltered  spot.  The  cut¬ 
ting  I  put  under  a  small  sash  where  I 
had  some  other  “treasures.”  The ’main 
plant  soon  disappeared  bodily.  A  few 
days  later  a  half-grown  chicken  got  un¬ 
der  the  sash,  and  in  efforts  to  get  out — 
well,  the  result  is  easily  imagined.  (We 
have  no  chickens  now).  I  salvaged 
what  I  could  of  the  other  things,  but 
found  no  trace  of  it,  nor  saw  any  the 
balance  of  the  year ;  in  fact,  forgot  it. 
The  sash  remained  uncovered  through 
the  Winter.  To  my  complete  surprise 
the  following  (last)  Spring,  I  discovered 
This  shows  how  an  otherwise  unsightly  wire  fence  may  be  beautified 
climbing  ornamentals. 
by  the  use  of  climbing  roses  or  other 
for  plant  life,  together  with  hard  work, 
which  go  hand  in  hand,  he  may  not  be 
able  to  “swing  it.” 
Selecting  the  Land. — The  business 
man  who  contemplates  going  into  fruit¬ 
growing  should  have  capital  enough  to 
secure  adequate  land  which  is  so  located 
that  transportation  will  not  he  a  serious 
problem,  and  ‘also  in  a  section  where 
fruit-growing  is  known  to  be  profitable. 
It  is  assured  that  proper  attention  will 
be  given  to  elevation,  soil,  slopes,  etc. 
It  is  more  desirable  to  purchase  a  farm 
in  good  condition,  which  can  be  prepared 
for  orchard  planting  at  slight  expense, 
rather  than  to  buy  cheap  land,  which 
will  be  very  expensive  to  bring  into  pro¬ 
fitable  bearing.  Many  have  made  the 
mistake  of  putting  the  bulk  of  their  sav¬ 
ings  into  cheap  land,  and  then  failed  be¬ 
cause  they  did  not  have  the  capital  to 
develop  the  land  as  it  should  have  been 
handled. 
Hired  Labor. — The  man  who  is  now 
in  professional  work  and  desires  to  estab¬ 
lish  a  fruit  orchard  will  of  necessity  have 
to  depend  upon  hired  labor  to  do  the 
work  until  the  orchards  have  reached  the 
stage  when  the  income  is  enough  to  war¬ 
rant  the  owner’s  moving  onto  the  farm. 
The  type  of  man  required  to  handle  a 
proposition  of  thi^  kind  varies  with  the 
owner.  If  no  returns  are  expected  for 
at  least  six  years,  a  part-time  man  may 
be  employed,  hut  if  the  farm  must  be  as 
nearly  self-supporting  as  possible,  a  year- 
round  man  should  be  secured  to  live  on 
the  place.  And  some  system  must  be 
followed  whereby  cash  crops  will  be 
$150.  The  total  from  the  above  items 
amounts  to  $1,125  to  $2,675.  The  c-ost 
the  second  year  would  be  about  the  same, 
except  the  cost  and  setting  of  the  trees. 
If  cash  crops  were  grown  there  would 
be  seed  and  fertilizer  to  purchase,  but  pf 
course  the  expenses  would  be  reduced  by 
the  crops  sold.  Machinery  purchases  have 
not  been  considered  ;  wagons,  plows,  har¬ 
rows  and  small  tools  would  vary  with 
each  proposition.  Many  owners  are  able 
to  make  extra  money  during  the  Winters 
by  using  the  teams  hauling  wood  or 
freight. 
Expenses. — F.  C.  Sears,  in  his  “Pro¬ 
ductive  Orcharding,”  itemizes  the  ex¬ 
penses  for  the  first  five  years  of  an  or¬ 
chard,  totalling  about  $115.  With  our 
present  higher  prices  I  consider  this  fig¬ 
ure  too  low.  M.  C.  Burritt,  in  his 
“Apple  Growing,”  shows  that  by  growing 
cash  crops  in  the  young  orchard,  and 
also  by  using  fillers,  the  cost  per  acre  of 
bringing  the  orchard  to  bearing  age 
varies  from  about  $40  to  $60,  the  total 
cost  without  cash  crops  being  deducted 
being  about  $70  to  $125.  Folger  & 
Thompson,  in  “The  Commercial  Apple 
Industry  of  North  America,”  give  the 
total  cost  of  producing  a  barrel  of  apples 
in  Western  New  York  for  1922  as  $2.62. 
Tractors  or  Teams. — Some  prospec¬ 
tive  fruit  growers  are  considering  doing 
all  of  their  work  with  tractors  and  motor 
trucks,  and  in  this  way  would  not  he 
obliged  to  keep  a  team  over  Winter.  I 
believe  it  is  entirely  possible  for  one  who 
is  favorably  situated  as  to  soil,  lay  of 
the  land,  etc.,  to  do  all  of  his  orchard 
a  single  tiny  leaf  with  a  tiny  root,  which 
quickly  developed  into  a  nice  plant.  Sub¬ 
sequently  three  others  appeared.  How 
is  that  for  hardiness  and  mystery?  I 
am  sure  that  the  cutting  had  not  time  to 
root ;  there  was  only  a  few  inches  of 
stem,  with  two  or  three  leaves. 
The  later  behavior  of  the  plants  may 
furnish  the  explanation.  After  blooming, 
as  cool  weather  approached,  the  plants 
(one  under  glass)  all  noticeably  began 
to  shrink,  and  soon  after  I  found  numer¬ 
ous  small  bulbs  appearing  in  the  axil  of 
each  leaf.  When  about  as  large  as 
Alaska  peas  these  drop  at  a  touch,  and 
are  apparently  all  that  exists  of  the 
plant  during  the  Winter,  as  I  believe  the 
main  root  dies.  It  is  probable  that  in 
my  open  sash  a  few  bulbs  developed  from 
a  section  of  stem  which  had  been  kindly 
buried  by  the  chicken. 
How  many  can  name  this  plant?  It 
grows  possibly  2  ft.  high  and  has  beau¬ 
tiful  flesh-pink  flowers,  held  well  above 
the  foliage.  The  underside  of  the  leaf  is 
almost  blood  red  with  prominent  vein- 
ing,  and  its  name  is  Begonia  Evansiana, 
the  hardy  Begonia.  av.  ay.  av. 
It.  N.-Y. — This  is  an  old  variety  of 
Asiatic  origin,  which  propagates  by  means 
of  little  bulbils  formed  in  the  axils  of  the 
leaf.  It  is  the  hardiest  Begonia,  even 
stauding  a  little  frost,  which  other  Be¬ 
gonias  do  not.  The  little  plants  flower 
the  first  year  from  the  bulbils.  Of  course, 
Washington  is  much  milder  than  New 
York.  This  Begonia  is  little  grown  now. 
though  desirable  for  Summer  bloom  in  the 
greenhouse.  It  was  introduced  to  the 
Royal  Botanic  Garden  at  Kew,  England, 
in  1804,  and  is  native  to  China,  Japan 
and  Java. 
Hypochondriaciial  Patient  (to  doc¬ 
tor)  :  “I’ve  been  reading  this  medical  en¬ 
cyclopedia  hei’e  on  your  waiting-room 
table,  and  I  don’t  think  much  of  it.  Why, 
I’ve  got  several  ailments  that  it  doesn’t 
even  mention.” — Judge. 
