
THE YELLOW SHEETS 
Of course I have read, for years, of 
Apple trees trained as cordons, that is 
to single stem, kept in reaching dis- 
tance in height, but had always thought . 
of them as freaks. One of my Cam- 
bridge friends saves her copies of The 
Countryman, an English farm maga- 
zine, and at intervals sends them to 
me. I deeply appreciate her kindness. 
Through this magazine | learn that 
cordons are used in commercial 
orchards in England, in rows 3 feet 
apart and 2 feet apart in the row. Now 
these are dwarf trees, certain varieties 
budded onto certain roots, and all side 
buds pinched off. When proper height 
is attained, keep top bud pinched. 
With our fantastic wages, this would 
call. for too much hand labor to be 
profitable commercially, but there is 
many a home with one or more outside 
jogs which might well shelter one or 
more Apple cordons. The blooms are 
beautiful in the spring and ripening 
fruit decorative later. In many fam- 
ilies there is some member who can 
find the time for the necessary pinch- 
ing, and the family have some ripe 
Apples. The fruit would be velvet, for 
they. would pay their way as orna- 
mentals. 
One of my neighbors here had a 
Pear tree in his front yard, trained in 
espalier style. I suspect that his wife 
did the pinching needed for this style. 
While she lived, it bore freely as fine 
Pears as any California Specials. After 
her death he let the tree grow any way 
it wanted, and now it bears just ordi- 
nary Pears. There are several nursery 
firms advertising dwarf fruit trees. If 
you need an ornamental shrub, it 
would pay to get in touch with them. 
Ralph, my youngest son, runs most 
of this place, but I boss the yard, about 
90x100 ft. The east end is a pasture 
’ for Ruth, our beloved milla Gat She 
has. been staked all. her life, except 
occasional sprees when she has man- 
aged to get loose and take a bee line 
for shrubs or plant stands. In the 
southwest corner is a Black Locust; by 
the front gate, a tall Yellow Pine; be- 
tween them a Mimosa, set this spring, 
a gift from a Texarkana friend; along 
the north line, a bearing native Per- 
simmon. West end slowly being set 
with shrubbery. Already includes a 
Japonica, Spirea van Houttei, Spirea 
Anthony Waterii, New Delta Fig, com- 
mon Fig, Gooseberry and native Haz- 
elnut. Hope to add native Sarvice 
Berry and Sand Cherry. All ornamen- 
tal. . tele 
Summer is time to save food for 
winter, and present prospects are that 
all we.can save will be needed. Ac- 
cording to the newspapers, jars and 
tin cans for canning will be scarce this 
year, which is to be expected. So nice 
to have personal affairs arranged from 
Washington. But if canning is to- be 
hampered, the sun will shine as usual, 
not being concerned with. New Deal 
theories, and we can dry fruit. Some 
will exclaim against this, and from 
what I’ve read of weird methods, such 
as quartering apples, stringing them 
on threads, and drying them over the 
cookstove, I do not wonder at the 
prejudice. But if you cannot can a 
plenty, do try my Aunt Kate’s method 
of drying Apples and Peaches. 
Always choose clear weather. ‘Days 
that fruit drying was on hand, we rose 
an hour earlier. Essentials, such as 
breakfast, milking and feeding the 
stock, were done, but dishwashing, bed 
making, etc., had to wait. We used 
very sharp knives, peeled fruit as thinly 
as possible, and then sliced just as 
thin as we could cut. ‘Our dryer con- 
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