F 
38 
American Agriculturist, July 19, 1924 
Its Extra Years oS Service 
Brings the Cost Away Down 
The few extra dollars you pay for a John Deere 
Spreader will come back to you many times over in 
extra years of low cost service. 
The first John Deere Spreaders built more than thirteen 
years ago, are still spreading manure, and, apparently, will 
give several more years of service—you will find proof of this 
right in your own locality. 
The low repair expense is an¬ 
other item well worth considering. 
In April, this year, J. P. Jacobson 
of Old Albuquerque, N. M., bought 
his first repairs, at a cost of $2.70, 
for his John Deere Spreader which 
he bought nearly twelve years ago. 
Mr. Jacobson runs a dairy farm 
and spreads lots of heavy manure. 
The reason for this better 
spreader service is quite evident 
when you make strength compari¬ 
sons—when you put the John 
Deere on the scales. It has the 
strength to stand up day after day 
under most severe spreading 
strains. Make your own com¬ 
parisons. 
Besides, the John Deere is 
easier on you, easier on your 
horses, does better work and 
lasts longer because — the 
beater is on the axle. 
It’s to your advantage to know 
all about the John Deere before 
you buy. Look it over at the 
store of your John Deere dealer. 
“SOIL FERTILIZERS” Free—a booklet that contains a world 
of information about manures, their uses, and how to get 
the most out of them. Also free spreader booklet. Write 
today to John Deere, Moline, Ill , and ask for Booklet SE-43. 
JOHNfeDEERE 
J_HE_TRAPE MARK OF QUALITY MADE FAMOUS BY G^ODJMPLEMENTbJ 
SELLING 
A. A. 
SERVICE 
G REAT service is rendered agri¬ 
culture and homemaking by 
American Agriculturist. This 
service is local and practical. It 
applies. 
If you would like to help ex¬ 
tend this service write me. 
E. C. WEATHERBY, Circulation Manager 
ITHACA, NEW YORK 
COME TO VIRGINIA 
Now is the time to buy a farm in Vir¬ 
ginia. Prices are reasonable. You can 
grow fine crops of corn—all grain and grass crops and 
fruit growing. Live stock and dairying unexcelled. 
Virginia offers more advantages to the farmer than any 
other state—variety of soil, mild winters. Why farm 
where you can grow only two or three crops and be 
far away from good markets, when you can grow a 
Variety of crops in Virginia and be neat the great 
consuming markets. The healthiest climate in 
"-v. America. Write now for Hand Book, 
.V Maps. etc. 
G. W. Koiner 
Commissioner of 
Agriculture 
RICHMOND, VA 
ca> 
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Elderberries for Profit 
Turning a Hedge Row Shrub Into Money 
T HIS is the story of 
a young man who 
found opportunity in his front yard— 
and almost turned it away! If F. W. 
Stillman, who has a place down in Middle¬ 
sex County, near Rahway, N. J., hadn't 
put off cleaning up a chicken yard he 
might never have recognized his oppor¬ 
tunity. In the corner of the poultry run 
was a clump of wild elderberry bushes 
and he had made up his mind that “one 
of these days” he would clean them out 
and give the chickens more room. 
Then he drove to town with some farm 
produce and happened to see some elder¬ 
berries on sale. He inquired whether 
there was a market for them, discovered 
that there was, and drove home to pick 
his own crop. When he brought the re¬ 
sult of his picking in to market, he 
realized $25 or $30 from it. 
“So instead of cutting out the bushes 
to give the chickens more room, I drove 
home double quick to fence in the elder¬ 
berry bushes to protect them from the 
chickens!” says Mr. Stillman. 
Ideal for Beverage or Jelly 
That was early in 1920. Since then, 
Mr. Stillman has worked up a trade which 
over-buys him every year, has done some 
remarkably successful experimenting with 
his bushes and is going ahead with other 
experiments to increase the yield and 
lower the labor of picking. So far as he 
knows—and he has tried to garner all 
possible knowledge on the elderberry — 
no one has made any researches to com¬ 
pare with his in detailed observation, and 
he believes that a new and extremely 
profitable product is in the course of evolu¬ 
tion from the sour old wild elderberry. 
“For years, elderberry wine has been a 
popular country beverage, especially 
among farmers of German birth or their 
descendants. It is also used in jellies, in 
combination with pectin-bearing fruits 
such as apples and grapes. With apples 
the taste is similar to plum jelly and with 
grapes resembles a huckleberry flavor. 
So far the elderberry has had no distinc¬ 
tive taste of its own.” 
The first year of his “find,” Mr. Still¬ 
man sold all his berries through nearby 
stores. He made up bis mind that there¬ 
after he would observe the farm-market¬ 
ing law that all products ahead of the 
season, or late, obtained better prices. 
He determined to “force” his bushes if 
possible, and to that intent examined 
them. He found that certain ones were 
well ahead of others, ripening while their 
neighbors were still in blossom, and this 
gave him an excellent range. 
Demand Is Good 
Ilis demand increased considerably. 
The fact that the berries were on display 
sold many through the factor of sugges¬ 
tion. Customers of the previous year 
came back and friends who had tasted 
the jellies also determined to try their 
luck. All he could pick sold readily, the 
late berries being particularly in demand, 
for early-season 
customers came 
back to report that 
the first jellies had 
been devoured by 
their families and 
more glasses were 
needed for winter 
supplies. 
“Early in the 
spring of the fol¬ 
lowing year, I trim¬ 
med some of the 
bushes for greater 
ease in picking,” 
says Mr. Stillman. 
“I did not get the 
result I expected 
—a clear path — 
but the pruning 
changed the yield 
most surprisingly, 
raakin g m uch 
By GABRIELLE ELLIOT bunches, which were 
far more readily 
picked than the small scattered groups. 1 
also found the characteristic bearing ten¬ 
dencies to hold over from year to year and 
had early, mid season and late-bearing 
bushes. 
larger 
individual 
- 
“I’m hard to fool, Eddie! I tell yuh the 
kid’s got candy! Lookit the flies buzzin’ 
around him !” — Judge 
Apparently Many Different Varieties 
“The third year I also noticed a great 
deal of difference in individual berries, 
their growth, color, leaves, and stems, as 
occurs in other fruits. One clump of 
bushes interested me especially. It 
produced small clumps with berries of a 
genuine red, the shade of a rich straw¬ 
berry 7 preserve, not the deep purple-black 
berry 7 we usually see. I had supposed it 
retarded and that the red berries were not 
fully ripe, but this year I was convinced 
that they represented a distinct variety, 
which I found to be larger than the other 
berries and distinctly sweeter—the only 
one in fact which has any apparent sweet¬ 
ness. This is to my mind a variation to 
be closely 7 watched and cultivated.” 
Mr. Stillman divides elderberries into 
several distinct varieties or species: One, 
the earliest, is green stemmed at the head, 
giving a dark berry clump of medium 
size. Two others have respectively red 
and green stems, the green berry the 
larger of the two. These come at the 
same time, a little later than the first. 
Then comes the large red stemmed 
berry, with prolific, heavy heads, the 
berries “simply bursting” with rich juice. 
Quite late in the season comes a green 
stemmed berry 7 , medium to small in size, 
which holds the fruit without dropping. 
The red berry, which interests Mr 
Stillman most, comes in toward the latter 
part of the season, and does not hold quite 
to the end. It is large, round rather than 
oblong, extremely 7 juicy 7 and gives promise, 
he believes, of developing into a new 
eatable berry 7 , which will rival the 
huckleberry in taste and popularity 7 . 
Cultural Methods Improve Berries 
“I have not yet experimented inten¬ 
sively 7 in propagation,” says Mr. Stillman, 
“but expect this year to carry on several 
experiments, using various known meth¬ 
ods. I have experimented in pruning, 
to which the wild bushes respond amaz¬ 
ingly, and shall go farther. It takes a 
period of y r ears to achieve the best ulti¬ 
mate results, for weather conditions, for 
instance, often set one back a whole 
season. 
“All my berries, however, are larger 
this y 7 ear than the natural wild elder¬ 
berry 7 of even a very good season. Prun¬ 
ing has not noticeably increased the size 
nor yield but has given instead of scat 
tered, small clusters, extremely large 
clusters which cut down the time of 
picking. These big clusters average 5 to a 
pound. 
“I am trying setting out some in the 
full and some in the spring. The plants 
are set out like rose bushes. 
“The sales problem as regards elder¬ 
berries is one on 
which I am fre¬ 
quently 7 question¬ 
ed. The natural 
wild growth of el¬ 
derberries offers me 
no competition. 
The berries grow 
in low 7 , da m p 
g r o u n d and are 
hard to pick be¬ 
cause of the small 
clusters. Also the 
time of picking 
makes a difference, 
so that many ama¬ 
teur pickers lose 
their berries by be- 
ing too early. 
Mine come along 
all season; arew r ell 
picked over, and 
carefully boxed. 1 
( Confin'd on page. 39) 
