‘Pk  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
1333 
Large  Orcharding  in  Vermont 
VERMONT  is  coming  forward  rapidly  in  the  de¬ 
velopment  of  commercial  orcharding.  Recent 
surveys  have  shown  that  there  are  many  extensive 
orchards  in  various  parts  of  the  State,  and  these 
are  receiving  a  good  deal  of  attention,  and  are  the 
subject  of  much  favorable  comment  throughout  the 
State,  and  even  outside  of  it.  The  largest  privately 
owned  orchard  in  the  State  is  that  of  Mr.  Everett 
at  Bennington,  which  has  over  55.000  trees;  next 
in  order  is  the  Buxton  orchard  at  Middletown 
Springs  with  18,000  trees ;  then  the 
Dorset  orchard,  managed  by  E.  II. 
West  of  Dorset,  where  there  are  15,000 
trees ;  then  F.  II.  McFarland  of  Water- 
ville  has  an  orchard  with  11,000  trees; 
then  the  Connecticut  Valley  orchards 
with  10,000  trees,  and  the  Grand  Isle 
orchards  of  10,000  trees. 
The  leading  question  just  now  is  the 
extent  to  which  these  large  growers 
will  contribute  to  a  Vermont  exhibit  at 
the  Eastern  Apple  Exposition  and 
Fruit  Show  to  be  held  in  New  York 
City,  November  3-10.  Apparently  many 
are  going  into  this  not  merely  for  the 
fun  of  it,  but  for  the  purpose  of  ad¬ 
vertising  their  own  products,  and 
showing  what  Vermont  can  do.  The 
students  in  horticulture  at  the  Univer¬ 
sity  of  Vermont  are  having  a  splendid 
chance  to  see  orcharding  on  a  large 
scale  in  the  various  parts  of  the  State. 
Several  students  were  at  “The  Or¬ 
chards”  in  Bennington  during  the  Summer  where 
they  were  employed  at  remunerative  wages,  and 
where  they  received  practical  experience. 
Recently. a  sizable  quota  of  students  from  the  Uni¬ 
versity  went  on  a  bus  trip  through  Grand  Isle  Coun¬ 
ty,  where  they  saw  much  of  interest.  They  visited 
the  orchard  of  Henry  Phelps  of  South  Hero,  where 
they  saw  a  wonderful  display  of  large-sized,  hand¬ 
somely  colored  Fameuse  apples;  perhaps  the  best 
grown  in  the  State.  This  year  Mr.  Phelps  has  a 
good  crop,  and  he  attributes  most  of  it  to  the  free 
use  of  nitrate  of  soda  on  bearing  trees.  He  uses 
about  6  lbs.  per  tree,  making  the  application  at  the 
opening  of  the  season.  Picking,  packing  and  barrel¬ 
ing  operations  were  going  on,  and  offered  a  fine 
chance  for  students  to  see  how  this  work  was  done. 
The  next  stop  was  at  the  orchard  of  T.  L.  Kinney, 
veteran  and  pioneer  fruit  grower  of  South  Hero, 
where  the  famous  storehouse,  a  model  of  its  kind  in 
earlier  days,  and  the  one  —  * 
illustrated  in  the  first 
j  d  i  t  i  o  n  of  Bailey’s 
“Principles  of  Fruit 
Growing,”  was  studied 
with  care. 
The  chief  goal  of  the 
trip,  however,  was  to 
the  Grand  Isle  Or¬ 
chards  Company’s  farm 
at  Grand  Isle,  where 
there  are  168  acres  in 
fruit,  including  10,000 
apple  trees.  Aside  from 
the  extensive  opera¬ 
tions  here  and  the 
beautiful  site  on  the 
lakeside,  the  chief  point 
of  interest  was  the  new 
storehouse  just  in¬ 
stalled.  This  consists  of 
a  renovated  basement 
stable  which  has  been 
concreted  and  finished 
with  an  economical 
type  of  cooling.  The 
method  consisted  of  the 
use  of  galvanized  iron 
pipes,  which  come 
through  the  floor  from  above,  and  extend  down  to 
the  bottom  of  the  basement  room.  Hoppers  on  the 
floor  above  provided  for  the  placement  of  chopped 
ice  and  salt,  which  are  used  for  filling  these  gal¬ 
vanized  pipes.  This  system  seems  to  be  working 
very  satisfactorily  and  William  Ladue,  manager, 
said  he  could  cool  the  house  down  to  nearly  30  de¬ 
grees  within  a  24-hour  period.  At  this  place  there 
were  also  opportunities  to  see  the  manufacture  of 
fruit  juices,  the  canning  and  preserving  of  second- 
grade  apples,  and  likewise  the  utilization  of  a 
crushing  machine  for  the  making  of  ground  lime¬ 
stone  and  clearing  some  of  the  stony  portions  of 
the  farm. 
The  leading  varieties  in  Vermont’s  commercial  or¬ 
chards  are  McIntosh,  Wealthy,  Northern  Spy,  Winter 
Banana, _  Delicious  and  Rhode  Island  Greening. 
m.  c.  B. 
Caring  for  Young  Vineyard 
I  have  three  acres  of  grapes  that  will  bear  fruit  next 
year.  I  wish  full  details  as  to  taking  care  of  them  the 
first  year  they  bear.  I  would  like  to  know  whether  the 
first  wire  can  be  stretched  this  Fall  or  should  both 
wires  be  put  on  in  the  Spring?  Will  steel  posts  be  all 
right  or  are  wooden  posts  the  better  and  how  long  are 
the  posts  supposed  to  be?  c.  M. 
Sorting  Lombard  plums  in  an  orchard  at  Bennington,  Vt.,  where  13  carloads  were 
raised  this  year. 
A 
‘SSUMING  that  the  vines  of  this  vineyard  are 
vigorous  enough  to  bear  a  partial  crop  next 
season  the  trellis  will  necessarily  have  to  be  es¬ 
tablished  before  growth  starts  in  the  Spring.  Fall 
is  an  ideal  time  to  set  and  drive  posts.  The  wires 
may  also  be  strung  in  the  Fall  but  they  should  not 
be  tightened  until  Spring,  after  posts  are  driven  to 
bring  them 'back  again  where  they  were  before  they 
were  heaved  by  frost. 
The  method  of  training  to  be  employed  will  de¬ 
termine  the  pruning  and  the  wire  heights.  With 
Concord  the  single  stem  four-cane  Ivniffen  has  been 
found  very  satisfactoi-y.  This  training  necessitates 
posts  8  ft.  in  length.  These  are  placed  at  intervals 
of  24  ft.  The  lower  wii’e  is  raised  at  least  3  ft. 
from  the  gi-ound,  3%  ft.  is  however  better,  while  the 
upper  or  second  wire  is  placed  2  ft.  above  the  lower. 
The  pruning  for  the  first  bearing  season  will  then 
consist  of  cutting  off  all  canes ‘but  one,  the  best  and 
the  trunk  to  the  upper  wire  through  a  cane  that  has 
grown  on  the  trunk  from  just  below  the  lower  wire. 
At  this  pi-uning  two  canes  are  retained  that  ax*ise 
from  just  below  the  lower  wire  and  these  are  tied 
to  the  right  and  left  along  the  lower  wire,  the 
tying  of  course  being  done  some  time  previous  to 
the  starting  of  the  buds.  At  this  period  the  vine  will 
consist  of  a  trunk  that  is  permanent  reaching  from 
the  ground  to  the  upper  wire  and  th.ere  secui'ely  tied, 
and  two  canes  arising  from  the  trunk  along  the 
lower  wire.  The  season  that  follows  sees  the  com¬ 
pletion  of  the  vine’s  form,  through  the 
pruning  to  two  canes  that  axdse  just 
below  the  upper  wire  and  which  are 
tied  to  the  right  and  left  along  it  and 
the  replacement  of  those  along  the  low¬ 
er  wire  by  two  newly  grown  ones.  The 
future  prxxning  aims  to  provide  four 
fruiting  canes  each  season,  two  at  the 
upper  wire  and  two  at  the  lower  and 
the  leaving  of  four  more  two-bud 
spurs  to  produce  the  fruiting  canes  for 
the  succeeding  year.  The  tying  of  the 
canes  is  usually  with  small  wire  ties 
or  sti’ong  twine.  For  the  first  few 
years  the  trunk  should  be  tied  loosely 
to  the  top  and  lower  wires,  not  so  tight¬ 
ly  that  girdling  will  result. 
Steel  posts  have  proven  very  satis¬ 
factory  for  the  vineyard  trellis,  and  in 
the  end  they  are  the  more  economical. 
One  satisfactory  steel  post  has  many 
tongues  or  slots  along  its  face,  so  that 
the  wires  are  readily  accommodated  at 
This  post  is  cylindrical  with  a  gradual 
A  Crop  of  McIntosh  Apples  in  Vermont 
most  direct  and  carrying  this  one  vertically  to  the 
lower  wire,  where  it  is  cut  off  at  a  bud  that  is  just 
above  the  wire.  This  cane  is  tied  tautly  to  the  wire 
with  strong  twine,  or  better  still  with  a  small  wil¬ 
low.  The  aim  sought  is  that  a  very  straight  trunk 
may  be  secui’ed.  If  the  vines  are  unusually  vigorous, 
lateral  canes  that  arise  fi-om  the  main  one  may  be 
tied  horizontally  along  the  lower  wire.  It  is  well 
to  break  off  the  lower  shoots  as  they  start  that  good 
canes  may  result  for  the  following  year’s  fruiting. 
If  the  new  shoots  grow  vigorously  they  may  be 
loosely  tied  along  the  lower  wire  and  under  excep¬ 
tionally  vigorous  growth  they  may  be  carried  over  the 
upper  wire. 
The  pruning  for  the  following  year  should  extend 
any  height. 
tapei\ 
Cultivation  of  the  vineyard  should  begin  in  the 
Spring  as  soon  as  the  soil  will  permit.  If  Fall  plow¬ 
ing  has  not  been  done,  the  first  operation  will  be 
shallow  plowing.  This  is  usually  done  with  the  sin- 
gle-hoi’se  plow,  making  one  bout  next  to  the  vines 
and  the  turning  of  the  centers  with  the  two-horse 
plow  or  two  or  three-bottom  gangplows.  The  fining 
and  leveling  of  the  soil  next  follows,  this  being  done 
by  the  disk  spring-tooth'  harrow  or  other  types  of 
cultivators.  When  the  soil  is  wox*ked  down  to  the 
level  the  weeds  are  taken  from  under  the  wires  by 
means  of  the  grape  horse-hoe  or'by  hand  hoeing. 
The  soil  should  be  kept  well  fined  dui'ing  the  re¬ 
mainder  of  the  active  growing  season  through  the 
use  of  the  disk  spring-tooth  or  other  cxiltivators. 
Cultivation  should  be  given  after  each  hard  rain. 
The  last  of  July  cultivation  should  stop  by  turning 
up  a  single  furrow 
next  to  the  vines.  After 
this  is  done  a  green  ma¬ 
nure  crop  should  be 
seeded  between  the 
rows.  When  the  new 
growth  is  out  5  or  6  in. 
in  the  'Spring,  250  lbs. 
of  nitrate 'Of  soda  should 
be  ^broadcast  over  the 
entii'e  width  of  row  and 
then  harrowed  in.  After 
severe  winds  the  vine¬ 
yard  should  be  gone 
over  and  canes  and 
shoots  re-tied  if  any 
have  blown  down. 
The  control  of  insects 
and  diseases  cannot  be 
foretold  for  the  various 
localities  in  advance, 
but  it  has  been  proven 
conclusively  that  one 
application  of  Bordeaux 
mixture  with  arsenate 
of  lead  has  a  marked 
tonic  effect  upon  the 
vine,  regardless  of  the 
prevalence  of  insects 
and  diseases.  In  the  latitude  of  Western  New  York 
this  application  is  usually  made  early  in  July. 
F.  E.  G. 
Thebe  are  few  of  us  who  fully  realize  how  this 
teaching  of  the  “new  nutrition”  is  affecting  the  wheat 
market.  It  is  astonishing  to  see  how  many  people  sud¬ 
denly  conclude  that  their  diet  has  contained  “too  much 
starch,”  and  they  proceed  to  cut  out  potatoes  and  white 
bread.  So  mxich  of  this  is  being  done  that  there  is  ac¬ 
tually  some  effect  upon  the  market. 
A  SURPRISING  number  of  people  have  written  to  ask 
if  we  believe  that  an  oneration  covering  the  use  of  “goat 
glands”  will  prevent  old  age  and  its  attendant  troubles. 
Several  “scientific  doctors”  ai^e  fishing  for  practice  with 
these  “goat  glands”  for  bait.  *  We  have  no  faith  in  the 
remedy.  We  think  a  diet  on  the  milk  of  the  goat  will 
do  you  more  good  than  the  use  of  these  glands. 
