VOL LIV.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., OCT.7. 1899.
NO. 40
ffraxXXtuXtuxz.
Ths. orchard is the place for pulverized
bones. Tbe finer portions are Immediately
taken up by the rootlets,  while  the  coarser
parts have an Influence for yeare.
. >
Despite all arguments to the contrary, the
fruit tree planted the fall will do better than
that which ia heeled in during the winter sea-
eon, in caee the planting ls well done. It
will get an early etart ln the epring, when
moet of the farm work   le  hurrying.   Nature
ls very prompt in beginning all her work.
< . —.—■
A veby excellent authority says: "It is a
fact that euch fruit ae the apple, the pear and
the plum, taken when ripe, without eugar,
diminish the acidity of the etomach rather
than provokes it. The vegetable juices contained lu these fruits are converted into alkaline carbonates, which tend to correct acidity. A good ripe apple (raw) is one of the
eaeleet vegetable substances for the stomach
to deal with, the whole process of digestion
being complete in eighty-fire minutes." In
the French hospitals an apple poultice is
sometimes applied to inflamed eyee. It ie
probable that euch fruits taken aa food also
serve as allayers of inflammation ln the stomach and other alimentary organs.
SOJA BEAN8 AS COFFEE.
We met a gentleman at our tent who, after
looking at the eoja beans we had on exhibition, told us that thoee beans when parched
were about equal to peanuts, and when slightly
browned and ground with coffee, in the proportion of one-fourth sojas to three-fourths
coffee, made a drink much superior to coffeo
alone. It Is richer and has a fine delicate
flavor. We intend to try lt. The beane must
not be browned dry.
HOBTICULTUHAL NOTES AT THE FAIB.
Some mammoth evergreen sweet corn, we
had at our tent was much admired by many
visitors, and many spoke for seed next spring.
It Is a very fine variety, and matures much
earlier than we supposed, for so large an  ear.
Thos. T. Newby, of Rush county, did not
make an exhibit, as we hoped he would, but
brought us specimen of German Rose and
Hawthorn apples. He hae many other new
Tarletlee besides these, which are worthy a
Place ln our list of choice.
A man from Illinois had eome apples at
toe fair that he declared were more than a
fear from the tree. He aleo had some of thie
year's grovth from the eame tree. It was a
feedllng and a fine looking apple of fair qual-
••7 but ls most valuable for Its long keeping
quality.
Mr. H. A. Orockett of Case county bad an
apple resembling maiden blush, of excellent
quality and a good bearer, and seedling, but
certainly worth propogatlng.
W H. Fry, of Greenwood, has an orchard of
near 100 Keiffer pears, from which he gathered
■ome five bushels each. He sold them at $100
Per bushel.
A farmer near Oolumbus eold 8 tons of tomatoes this fall from one and one-fourth
acres. The price secured was $6 per ton. This
•astho amount up to September 20 an eeveral
•ons remained yet on the vines.
WHO TO SET STKAWBEKKY PLANTS.
Enquiries are often made as to the best
time to set strawberry plants. In reply we
"ould say that some years lt is best to set
">em In the fall; In other reasons spring eet-
''°g doe* best. No one can tell in advance.
If you can get good, atrong plants ln the fall,
and your ground Is moist and mellow that
111»» be a better time than next spring, especially if the winter ehould be favorable.
Bjt If winter ehould prove severe and changeable, as eo many of our winters are, your
Planting may be ln vain.   As we cannot fore
tell what the winter will be, we cannot be sure
that fall planting will succeed. So it le a good
and eafe plan to plant ln both seasons. Spring
planting Is generally successful because we
usually have sufficient moisture then to give
the plants a good start; but it ls not always
possible to get plants as early as we want
them, on account of cold  and  wet  weather.
That Four Acre Strawberry Patch.
ErriToas India.hi. Tmmuzm.
In a recent article, hastily written and published ln your paper, I spoke of a four acre
strawberry patch near Muncie, which ln the
size, amount and beauty of its berriea I had
never before seen equalled. My Information
relative to the number of bushels sold from
that patch waa derived from its owner soon
after the fruiting season.
Since the publication of my article he has
told me that in addition to the 600 bushels
he believes that at least 125 or more ln that
patch were never picked, because they would
have glutted his market and deprived nlm of
any profit. He also stated that my estimate
of the cost of straw and cultivation was entirely too low. He estimates the cost of etraw
at $50 and cultivation which was thorough at
$150. It is a oommon practice with some of
the beet strawberry growers here to permit
the berries to rot on tho plants rather than
pick them without profit.
My firet information was based on the
grower's statement corcernlng the number of
buehele eold, but nothing was said then relative to the amount of berries left lnthe patch.
The amount produced on tbe 4 acres was no
doubt over 600 buehels, but the net profit was
considerably less than reported ln my article. G 0.
Muncie.
 SO...	
The Future of the Apple Orchard.
[Bead before the Ohio State Institute br Prof. W.
J. Green, of the Ohio Agricultural Experiment
Station.]
In trying to forecast tbe future of the apple orchard my mind reverts lrreeletibly to
the past. One orchard, ln particular, crowds
itself on my memory and this is type of
many othere well known In the past, nor ls
the claee yet extinct It ie tbe old orchard
back of the barn where the Iambs frisked in
the early epring, ln the "eeason between hay
and grass"; where we children chased the
calves and little pigs and where the "horned
patriarch of the flock" sometimes chased us.
This old orchard was primarily a calf pasture,
cattle and horses had no place ln it; sbeep
and hogs on special occasions, but the hogs
were civilized hogs, not by nature, but be.
cause they bad rings ln their noses. The
grassy turf was almost like a lawn. The treee
were full of vigor, eome reaching skyward beyond the length of any ladder, but the fruit
Aey bore did not need careful handling to
get lt to the elder mill. A few had been despoiled and subdued by the artful grafter.
There were Greenings, and Gates, Ramboe,
Golden Sweets, and Harvest apples enough for
the family, and sometimes a surplus for market, while cider applet were never lacking.
-     ' THB TBEES OAVE SHADE
to the calves and did not deetroy the pasture.
The calvea grew into fat eteers and eleek
eowe. These brought cash, and the pigs and
lambs added their quota also. Very naturally there was an abundance of good feeling
toward tbe old orchard.
The children loved it becauee there wae always life, animation and companionship
there. The elders prized it because of the
steady income which It yielded, both directly and Indirectly, nor did they begrudge it
a year's rest after It'had yielded a bountiful
harvest, for lt never lost Ite usefulness even In
the off yeara. If Ite only mission had been to
bear apples for market there might have been
reason to complain both as to the quantity
and quality of the fruit.   It was
LIKE A (1XNEBAI. I'UBI-OSB AHIMAL
If lt could not do one thing well it could do
several things Indifferently, and because It
had so many uses lt was indispensable. In
former days the general purpose cow or horee
or machine, were looked upon with more
favor than now. Tho cow that could make a
moderate amount of butter and had a good
carcass for beof was considered to be more
valuable than ono good for butter alone, even
though she wae far above the average ln this
respect. There are still somo who as John
Gould pithily puts lt,''would keep an indifferent butter cow, simply becoueo sho would
eell for boef at the admlnletrator's rale."
One can imagine why a Frenchman would
choose a general purpore horse for a family
beast, for he could drive it to the carriage for
a score of years and then make French beef of
lt.
Even the general purpose man is not
wanted eo much ae he used to be. We may
admire versatility, bat the market for skilled
labor quotes versatility at a low rate. The
man, the animal, the machine which can do
one thing and do lt well, ls wanted nowadays.
So far as the man ls concerned this tendency
seems almoet deplorable, but tbe tiller of the
soil is not becoming specialized to a dangerous degree. There le still opportunity for
him to exercise all of his endowments, and
yet, he too,
IS BECOMDtO A  SPECIALIST
on a broad basis.
But the ordhard. the general 'purpose orchard, are lta dayB numbered? I think not, un.
less terberculosis remove the necessity of a
calf paeture.
Aelong ae the orchard back of the barn ls eo
very convenient it will remain. There ls no
reason why it should not. It etill has a mission, but If any one supposes that It can fulfill
all of the requirements of a modern orchard
then he muet be one of thoee who believe that
a horee can pull a plow one day and take first
money at the race courso the next, or that a
cow can give 8,000 pounds of milk ln a year
and then successfully compete in the fat stock
show.
The commercial apple orchard of the future
ls to ba like the specialized animal; lt must be
for one purpose mainly and brought up to tho
highest point of excellence In that particular.
The general purpose orchard may remain on
most farms, but it will not eupply the market with any considerable quantity of fruit.
Tbe commercial orchard alone can meet  the
EXACTIBQ DBMAHDfl OFTHE CITY MABKRTB.
I may as well, at once, answer tbe queetion
Implied In the topic, "Has tbe apple orchand
a future?"
I think the apple orchard In Ohio has a
future. Are diseases and Insects to gain control, and western competition to complete the
destruction of Ohio apple orchard*? I eay no.
The Ohio man has boen equal to the occasion,
and he It not going t) fall in orcharding any
mire than he is in other branches of farming
When tbe Ohio man gives up and says he can
no longer grow wheat and corn, beef or mutton; when he la ready to acknowledge that
eome one else Is smarter than he, then it will
be time to talk about leaving apple growing
to some one else, ln another etate, who knowe
how better than the Ohio man. Of couree,
the Ohio man hae done eome foolieh thinge.
He tried to make butter uut of one eide of the
milk and cheese out of the other, while tho
New Yorker quietly took the market away
from him and refuses to give it back. He deluded himself into the belief that hie calf
pasture was an orchard, and has further deceived himself Into believing that fungi and
worms must ba endured for he has beoome
convinced that they cannot be cured. The
fruit of orchards from other states is put into
his markete, and he haa about come to the
conclusion that there la eomethlng providen
tial ln the way things aro parceled out.
The Ohio man is not a unit In thie queetion,
however.   Some bal ievolthat
A I'l'LB* MAY BTII.I. BE OHOWN
In the state to compete with the world, in
our own market at least. If I can tell how
this can bo done lt will be give an Idea of
what tho future apple orchard mey'.be. Ojm-
mcrclally, the general purpose orchard will be
an insignificant factor ln tho future. It may,
withoutmuch care, supply the family with
fruit In favorable seasons, but it will fall moro
frequently than ln the paet, not only in the
quantity but in the quality of product. The
site of the future commercial orchard will be
selected with groat caro, with reference both
to soil and air drainage Failure will not be
invited by planting where soil drainage,
either natural or artificial, cannot be secured
by not selecting locations where fogs and
frosts prevail. Given the right location for
an orchard and the battle ls half won. Nature
has dono her part eo far, but as though repenting her over indulgence, ehe prrjeeeds at once
to eend plagues and pestilences. There ia the
worm at the root, the worm at the top, and
another specially deelghed for the fruit. Diseases that will take the breath out. of the
leaves and tbe beautiful blush from the fruit.
Ae though
ONLY HALF IH EABKE8T
about the good work Nature made that elevated orchard site eo dry that we must adopt
measures to retain tho moisture, or the fruit
will be  too  email. If  we leave  nature
alone ehe will plant weeds and grass to pump
the eoil etill dryer. A timothy eod that will
give two tone of hay per acre will pump outof
the soil, during the season, five inches of
water, equal to more than 4,000 barrels of
water per acre. This may be more water than
falls during August and September, when the
apple crop ie moet in need of moisture. To
replace thla amount of water would require
the time of a man and a team a full month,
even though tho haul was only one fourth
mile. To save moisture is one of the moet
Important problems of orchaiding at present
We cannot afford to divide the supply of food
for weeds or grass. The trees need it all,; and
muet have lt for the beet reeults. We know
that cultivation eavee moisture. A mulch on
the surface of the eoil prevents the wind and
sun drying the eoil. Wo need, however, to
know a few thinge more specifically. First,
as toearly cultivation and its effects. It haa
been shown by experiment that soil left undisturbed ln the epring lost ln a single week the
equivalent of a good soaking rain more than
cultivated soil alongside. The loss of 1,500
barrels of water per acre, in a single week, la
an incident not to be counted upon in
SUCCESSFUL OBCHABD CULTCBE,
when eo eimple a remedy ae harrowing Is at
hand. Leee than half a day's work of man
and team will prevent much of the loss, but If
the same man were set to work hauling water
he could not put it on, in a drying time, aa
faet as the eun and wind would take lt off.
For practical irrigation a harrow beats a
sprinkling cart 10 to 1. One other lesson the
orchardlst, as well as the farmer and gardener
needs to learn, and tbat is that a more sprinkle
of rain, and even a hravy dew, may dry the
soil. Do not the corn leaves roll up more the
day after a light shower, in a dry time, than
they did before it rained? When the soil be-
came very dry it nearly lost the power to draw
up moisture, or increased the soil's capillarity. In an experiment, one-fourth of an inch
of water equal to about two hundred barrels
per acre, was applied to the surface of dry
soil. The next day there wag preeent, in the
upper layer of the toll, three timea as much
water ae was applied. The fctra quantity
came from below, or as we might eay, the
capillarity of the soil waa increased.     Thie Is
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