Vht  RURAL.  NEW-YORKER 
1515 
Cotton  Culture  at  the  North 
I  NOTE  the  letter  from  W.  E.  B.  on  liis  experience 
with  90-day  cotton.  There  is  no  such  thing,  and 
any  paper  carrying  such  an  advertisement  should  be 
prosecuted.  Cotton  needs  from  130  to  150  days,  de¬ 
pending  on  the  season.  Planted  the  middle  of  May 
it  will  mature  between  September  15  and  October  15. 
We  begin  picking  cotton  here  six  weeks  before  frost, 
and  our  average  date  of  first  killing  frost  is  Novem¬ 
ber  14.  The  average  of  first  killing  frost  at  Atlantic 
City  is  November  4,  at  New  York  November  7,  at 
Philadelphia  October  31,  at  Harrisburg  October  28, 
at  Washington  October  18,  at  Trenton  October  19. 
As  far  as  climate  is  concerned,  I  believe  there  is  no 
question  cotton  can  be  grown  as  far  north  as  Harris¬ 
burg,  for  the  frost  dates  I  have  quoted  are  from 
Weather  and  Crop  Reports  published  by  the  United 
States  Department  of  Agriculture..  But  climate  is 
not  all  there  is  to  cotton  culture.  Cotton  is  a  poor 
land  crop  when  grown  commercially.  It  is  really  a 
perennial,  but  as  a  field  crop  it  must  be  grown  from 
seed  every  year  to  get  a  good  staple.  It  Avill  not 
survive  the  Winter  where  the  ground  freezes.  I 
doubt  if  many  in  the  North  know  what  I  mean  by 
poor  land.  On  Long  Island  and  in  South  Jersey  there 
are  many  thousands  of  acres  of  just  such  land  as  we 
have  in  the  cotton  belt,  but  outside  of  that  section 
there  Is  very  little  land  in  the  North  that  contains 
so  little  organic  matter  and  nitrogen  as  cotton  belt 
land.  The  only  fertilizer  used  here  is  kainit,  carry¬ 
ing  about  12  per  cent  of  potash.  In  some  sections  a 
little  acid  phosphate  is  also  used.  But  for  the  boll 
weevil  it  would  pay  to  fertilize  heavily  here,  using 
nitrate  of  soda  in  addition  to  potash  and  phosphorus 
but  it  is  now  necessary  to  hurry  the  crop  to  matur¬ 
ity  to  get  ahead  of  the  boll  weevil,  just  as  it  is  nec¬ 
essary  to  hurry  it  in  the  North  to  beat  Jack  Frost. 
Using  any  nitrogenous  fertilizer  retards  instead  of 
hastening  maturity  of  cotton  and  most  other  plants. 
Cotton  will  be  successfully  grown  at  least  as  far 
north  as  Philadelphia  when  farmers  learn  that  the 
plant  should  not  be  over  2  ft.  high  at  maturity,  and 
to  make  a  crop  of  lint  it  must  be  grown  on  poor 
land,  planted  very  thick  and  cultivated  frequently 
until  it  begins  to  fruit.  Cotton  is  grown  successfully 
in  Southern  Illinois,  Missouri  and  Oklahoma,  where 
they  have  a  shorter  growing  season  than  in  Southern 
Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey  or  along  Long  Island 
Sound,  or  near  the  Atlantic  Coast  to  Cape  Cod. 
It  is  hard  for  farmers  to  understand  that  land 
may  be  too  rich  for  some  crops.  It  is  harder  for  them 
to  believe  that  the  poorest  land  they  have  may  be 
too  rich  for  a  large  number  of  crops.  Land  that  will 
produce  25  to  30  bushels  of  corn  may  be  too  rich  to 
grow  peanuts,  velvet  beans,  beggarweed  or  cotton. 
That  is  to  say,  these  crops  will  make  a  lot  of  tops, 
but  mature  no  fruit,  and  some  land  in  the  corn  belt 
would  not  mature  cotton  if  they  never  had  any  frost. 
In  fact,  that  happens  in  some  spots  in  South  Florida 
on  muck  lands,  where  cotton  grows  wild,  and  makes 
small  trees  that  blossom  and  set  bolls  all  the  year 
round,  but  few  of  the  bolls  ever  open,  and  the  lint  is 
of  no  value.  It  is  hard  for  farmers  to  understand 
that  on  the  poorest  land  fertilizer  is  of  no  benefit  to 
Protecting  Tender  Plants  With  Pine  Boughs.  Fig.  672 
such  crops  as  kudzu,  velvet  beans,  peanuts  and  beg¬ 
garweed,  and  will  actually  harm  some  of  them. 
Kudzu  is  not  injured  by  fertilizei’,  nor  is  it  benefited, 
and  kudzu  will  grow  on  rich  land,  but  no  better 
than  it  does  on  poor  land.  This  is  because  kudzu 
roots  so  deep  and  gets  its  food  in  the  subsoil.  I  be¬ 
lieve  the  time  has  come  to  grow  most  of  our  cotton 
north  of  the  present  cotton  belt,  and  in  the  arid 
regions  west  of  Meridian  100.  chas.  f.  leach. 
Florida. 
The  Blueberry  Business  in  Maine 
T  is  probable  that  hundreds  of  our  readers  have 
eaten  canned  blueberries  from  Maine,  and  they 
have  wondered  how  these  berries  are  produced. 
Many  have  written  us,  asking  if  it  would  not  pay  to 
start  blueberry  culture.  The  Maine  Experiment  Sta¬ 
tion  at  Orono  has  issued  a  bulletin  (No.  SOS)  in 
Mammoth  Elm  at  Yarmouth,  Maine.  Fig.  673 
which  a  brief  account  of  this  industry  is  given.  As 
grown  in  Maine  the  blueberry  cannot  be  called  a  cul¬ 
tivated  crop.  About  the  only  “culture”  practical  is 
burning  the  fields  over  every  few  years.  The  berries 
grow  wild  on  great  barrens  or  plains,  chiefly  in 
Washington  County.  It  is  hot  clear  how  these  “bar¬ 
rens”  originated,  but  at  any  rate  whenever  the  for¬ 
ests  are  removed  or  destroyed  by  fire  great  numbers 
of  blueberry  bushes  come'  up.  In  general  these  bar¬ 
rens  or  plains  consist  of  great  level  or  rolling 
stretches  of  land,  with  lakes  and  swamps  scattered 
here  and  there.  The  soil  is  acid,  usually  of  a  light 
character.  The  Summers  are  short  and  very  hot. 
There  is  much  snow  in  Winter  and  the  annual  rain¬ 
fall  will  average  about  45  inches.  Wet  April  and 
May,  followed  by  a  dry  June,  seems  very  favorable 
to  blueberry  growth.  Blueberries  are  found  all  over 
the  State,  but  mostly  only  in  pasture  or  waste  land. 
While  the  industry  is  centered  in  Washington  Coun¬ 
ty,  it  is  slowly  spreading  over  the  State.  The  fol¬ 
lowing  information  is  found  in  this  bulletin : 
Three  species  of  blueberry  (all  of  the  so-called  low- 
bush  type )  occur  on  the  barrens.  These  are  in  order 
of  abundance  the  low  sweet  blueberry  (Yaccinium  penn- 
sylvanicum  Lam.),  the  sour-top  or  velvet-leaf  blueberry 
(V.  canadense  Kalm.),  and  the  late  low  blueberry  (V. 
vaeillans  Kalm.).  Of  these  the  first  is  the  most  com¬ 
mon,  the  most  desirable,  and  the  one  chiefly  gathered 
for  canning.  Growers  often  speak  of  black  and  of  white 
blueberries.  The  black  blueberries  are  botanically  a 
form  of  V.  pennsylvanicum  Lam.,  namely  Yar.  nigrum 
Wood.  These  are  not  uncommon,  and  are  in  every  way 
desirable.  The  white  blueberries  are  rare  ;  they  may  be 
either  V.  pennsylvanicum  Lam.  forma  leucocarpum 
Deane  or  V.  canadense  Kalm.  forma  ehiococcum  Deane. 
In  Eastern  Maine,  the  blueberry  is  in  flower  about 
the  middle  of  May,  and  on  the  barrens  the  fruit  begins 
to  ripen  quite  generally  by  the  end  of  July.  During  the 
berry  season,  which  lasts  from  early  August  until  into 
September,  the  pickers  move  out  to  the  barrens  with 
their  families,  and  live  in  shacks  or  tents,  so  that  the 
plains  appear  not  unlike  an  army  encampment. 
Although  the  berries,  which  are  picked  with  a  rake 
similar  to  that  used  for  gathering  cranberries,  are  under 
favorable  conditions  as  firm  and  clean  as  hand-picked 
fruit,  usually  more  or  less  foreign  matter  Is  collected  in 
the  process  of  raking.  It  is  a  common  though  not  a 
universal  practice  to  winnow  the  berries  in  the  field  for 
the  purpose  of  eliminating  such  leaves  and  other  foreign 
material  as  can  be  blown  out  by  the  hand-power  win¬ 
nowing  machine.  The  fruit  is  then  poured  into  wooden 
boxes,  and  taken  to  the  canneries.  Before  it  is  packed 
it  is  subjected  to  a  more  thorough  winnowing  in  a 
power-driven  machine. 
Although  the  blueberry  stands  transportation  well, 
comparatively  little  of  the  fruit  is  shipped  fresh,  on  ac¬ 
count  of  the  high  rates  charged,  and  most  of  the  berries 
are  sold  directly  to  the  canneries  and  to  the  local 
markets. 
In  1SS6  when  the  first  attempt  was  made  to  pack 
blueberries,  5,000  bushels  were  put  up;  in  1912  this  had 
increased  to  some  90.000  bushels,  while  in  1922,  184,450 
bushels  were  handled  at  the  factories,  and  the  value  of 
the  canned  product  was  estimated  at  $1,000,000. 
It  has  been  the  common  practice  to  burn  the  blue¬ 
berry  bushes  every  third  year,  although  occasionally  the 
land  is  allowed  to  lie  unburned  for  as  many  as  five 
years  or  even  longer.  As  a  rule,  each  owner  divides 
his  land  into  three  approximately  equal  lots  which  are 
burned  in  rotation,  one  each  year.  No  berries  are  pro¬ 
duced  on  the  “new  burn”  (by  which  is  meant  the  first 
year’s  growth  of  bushes  after  burning),  but  the  second 
year  the  bushes  bear  very  heavily,  and  somewhat  less 
heavily  in  succeeding  years,  the  reason  being  that  the 
fruit  is  produced  on  the  new  wood  developed  during  the 
preceding  year.  All  the  stems  above  ground,  and 
leaves,  are  destroyed  in  the  burning,  and  only  the 
tangled  mass  of  roots  remains,  so  that  thei'e  is  a  very 
vigorous  growth  during  the  first  year,  but  decidedly 
less  the  second  year,  as  so  much  energy  must  be  expend¬ 
ed  in  developing  the  berries.  The  fires  are  set  on  a 
clear  morning  in  the  Spring,  and  sweep  across  the 
barrens  all  day,  but  are  checked  by  the  heavy  dews  in 
the  evening. 
The  advantages  of  such  burning  are  apparent  both  as 
to  pruning  the  blueberry  bushes  and  restraining  of  tree 
and  weed  bushes  which  would  otherwise  shade  the 
plains.  The  effect  of  continued  burning  on  the  neces¬ 
sary  acidity  of  the  soil,  however,  is  a  matter  which 
should  be  investigated  with  reference  to  cultural  prac¬ 
tices  in  the  future. 
Effect  of  Mulch  on  Trees 
I  have  for  years  been  cutting  weeds,  discolored  hay, 
straw  and  potato  tops  and  putting  under  my  apple 
trees  to  protect  the  apples  that  drop.  I  use  about  500 
or  600  lbs.  per  tree  every  August,  and  as  soon  as  apples 
are  gathered  let  the  pigs  turn  this  over  and  convert  it 
into  manure  or  humus.  Can  I  do  any  harm  in  this  way, 
and,  if  not,  what  other  fertilizer  should  I  use  to  balance 
the  soil,  and,  if  possible,  benefit  tne  fruit?  Absolutely 
no  grass  grows  under  these  trees,  and  the  ground,  as  far 
as  the  mulching  is  used,  is  just  as  loose  as  ashes.  Last 
year  I  had  trees  breaking  down  with  the  finest  Bald¬ 
wins  ever  grown.  We  have  lots  of  trees  that  bear  every 
year.  c.  G. 
Mendham,  N.  J. 
HIS  plan  of  mulching  trees  with  vines  and 
weeds  or  straw  has  given  great  satisfaction  in 
most  cases.  It  keeps  land  around  the  tree  moist  and 
cool,  and  the  continued  decay  of  this  mulch  adds 
both  humus  and  fertilizing  matter  to  the  soil.  The 
pigs  evidently  root  under  this  mulch  and  turn  it 
over’,  because  insects  of  all  kinds  gather  in  such 
places.  The  pigs  are  after  grubs  and  worms,  and 
their  work  of  rooting  and  turning  over  the  mulch 
gives  a  thorough  form  of  cultivation.  We  have 
never  noticed  any  harm  in  a  method  of  this  kind,  ex¬ 
cept  that  when  the  mulch  is  left  around  the  trees 
during  the  Winter  it  forms  a  nest  or  hiding  place 
for  mice.  These  mice  will  keep  under  the  mulch, 
and  when  their  natural  food  is  scarce  they  will  go  to 
the  tree  and  gnaw  the  bark  from  the  Iwer  trunk 
and  roots.  It  is,  therefore,  necessary  to  push  the 
mulch  away  from  the  trunk  of  the  tree  during  the 
Winter  and  throw  a  few  shovelfuls  of  dirt  around 
the  lower  trunk.  That  will  keep  most  of  the  mice 
away  and  give  a  fair  protection. 
Aside  from  this  we  do  not  know  of  any  great  ob¬ 
jection  to  the  method.  We  think  it  would  pay  to  use 
three  or  four  pounds  of  acid  phosphate  scattered  un¬ 
der  those  trees,  about  as  far  out  as  the  branches  ex¬ 
tend.  On  light  land,  inclined  to  be  sandy,  Ave  should 
add  one  pound  of  muriate  of  potash  to  the  acid  phos¬ 
phate  for  each  tree. 
Pine  Boughs  Cover  Perennial  Bed.  Fig.  674 
