VOL. LXIV
INDIANAPOLIS, DECEMBER IJ, 1909.
NO. 49
IjESSONS FROM SUCCESSFUL SPECIALISTS.
A     Profitable      Orchard     in     Rush
County.
By "Walter S. Smith.
A Word Prefatory—I have conceived a notion, all my own, that farmers
need the Instruction of the specialists.
The most wasteful farmer ^^^^^^
is he who attempts too
many departments of
work and lacks time to
bring any of it to perfection.
So  my notion  is  to  go
* and see a number of specialists and  write sketches
of their methods,  reporting the resultant facts.
There are .great fruit
men, corn men, bee men,
cattle men, swine men,
and men devoted to the
dairy. I cannot visit all
who thus succeed, but I
can see one reliable representative in each class;
and, from him and his
facts and methods, derive
lessons to greatly aid the
general farmer who is doing something in each department of agriculture.
Beginning with my favorite study, the orchard I
will Introduce.
No. 1. "Chris" King,
Rush Co.—Recently, I
visited Mr. King, near
Milroy, seven miles south
of Rushville. Mr. King
has two small farms, the
two embracing 118 acres.
He farms both as successful as most men do, but he
makes a specialty of a little orchard between three
and  four acres in extent.       	
He achieves great success
with this, in the following particulars:
(1) He has apples, pears and cherries every year, and rarely fails on
peaches, plums and quinces. This year
he has an abundance of all, except
pears  ;and  he has some pears.
(2) He keeps every vacancy filled,
growing most of the stock himself. In
order to make assurance sure, he grafts
on the varieties he wants, and thus secures fruits true to name. In this
way, he produces Grimes' Golden trees,
not subject to the bark disease. This
is the ^eat defect of this "best apple
on the market."
<3) He is always represented in the
fairs, and carries off premiums enough
to pay all expenses; at the same time
advertising his wares.
<4) To prevent defects in the fruits
he has a complete spraying outflt, and
applies the material plentifully. His
power is a gasoline engine, which he
mounts on a four-wheeled truck, with
a platform wide enough to enable him
to walk all round it. His spray-extensor is a cane pole eight feet long with
an eighth-Inch gas pipe run through
it. This secures strength and lightness.
He sprays with the wind, and does not
try to spray against it. This of course,
requires two days for each treatment.
The material he uses is the Bordo mixture, containing arsenate of lead. There
is almost no scab in his fruit, and the
agrub of the codling moth is scarcely to
be found.
(6) He believes in mulching. He
had when I was there sledded straw to
every tree bearing apples, in order to
save the moisture in case of drought;
by which process the crop was to be
fully perfected.
(6) He keeps all densely headed
trees severely trimmed, making room
to climb all about in the top; and he
King's word for it, that these are the
actual facts.
* • • • •
Speaking of the Ben Davis apple Mr.
King says it is with him a money maker. "You see that row of trees?" pointing to the identical row that appears In
the picture at the right of the observer. "I had just such a row of Grimes's
Goldens,   planted   the   same   day   and
ECONOMY
Baldwins Ben Davis
Orchard  of Chris King,  Rush Co., Ind.
thins the fruit, at considerable expense
of time and labor; so that what he
gathers is all flrstclass.
I asked him if all this care paid him.
He answered: "What do you think
that row of Ben Davis apples will be
worth to me?" I looked and there
were ten of them. I answered: "Oh,
I hardly know how to guess; perhaps
eight dollars or more apiece." He answered: "Certainly not less than ten;
and the figure is more likely to reach
fifteen    or  twenty."
By way of sequel, he just now tells
me he gathered and sold apples from
these ten trees to the amount of
$146.50; which is $14.65 to the tree. As
they are planted but twenty-five feet
apart ,they occupy but a seventh of
an acre; and a whole acre, at this
rate would have brought $1,025. His
seven Baldwin trees did yet better. One
of them yielded more than forty dollars; and the seven averaged $32.70
each, or $2,290 an acre. He sold Maiden
Blushes, Borne Beauties and Pewaukees
to the amount of $125; and the sales
from the forty trees reached a little
over $500. If his entire four acres had
been planted ln Baldwins and Ben
Davises, ln equal numbers, and had
yielded at the same rate, his income
would have reached $6,630. "Who then
can estimate the value of a really large
orchard, really well cared for? Such
figures seem incredible; but I have Mr.
cared for ln the same way. Now I
have ten Ben Davis trees, all in good
health, and one Grimes. The fine
Grimeses I take to the fairs do not
grow on that tree, but on limbs grafted
onto other varieties. The people buy
the Ben Davis on account of its beauty,
and, as to quality, it is a good deal bet-
t«-r than no apples."
I have not mentioned his cherries
nor did he tell me much about them.
He has the trees, and they were full of
fruit; from which he made many dollars. But I Inquired especially after his
group of quinces and persimmons.
These are beginning to be very profitable; and he succeeds ln producing
bearing trees by grafting on scions
from the bearing varieties.
He is trying to grow pawpaws, but
in this line his success has not been
flattering. He finds It quite remunerative to grow these odd and unusual
fruits. There is a market for every
basket of persimmons, and every peck
of quinces.
Pawpaws must be planted in the seed,
wherever we desire them to grow. Persimmons do best that way, too, as they
can be grafted much better than they
can be transplanted. Grafting is
necessary, as the seedlings are not certain to fruit.
OP    THE    LaOW    DOWN
WAGON.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
The use of the low down farm wagon
has been widespread and rapid in recent years. There are so many advantages in using a low wagon that It is
strange its merits were not discovered
long ago. Possibly, the prejudice
against the use of a low down wagon is
       due to the fact that with
narrow tires there is a
heavier draft. It has been
conclusively shown, however, that although a low-
wheeled wagon pulls
heavier under certain
conditions such as rough
or muddy roads, than does
a wagon with high
wheels, there are so many
uses to which the low
down wagon may be put
on the farm that every
farmer should have one
or more.
It is still a debated question whether the wagon
with low wheels pulls
heavier than one with
high wheels on public
roads. Careful tests have
shown very little difference. The .great work in
connection with hauling
comes in loading and unloading. As a labor saver
in this direction, there is
nothing to compare with
the low-wheeled wagon.
Even if it does take a Ht-
'tle more team power to
pull the load, there will be
plenty of horses after the
owner is gone.
The wagon with low
wheels is a great saver of
strength. It is the last
inch or two    of  the    lift
        that    taxes    the    strength
most. In the loading and
hauling of hogs, stone, earth, potatoes,
apples, corn fodder, grain in
the sheaf and farm machinery, the
wagon with low wheels has so many advantages that the ordinary high-wheeled wagon is hardly to be considered.
With the low-wheeled wagon, one man
can frequently do the work which
would otherwise require two.
There are two ways in which wagons
can be secured with low wheels. One
is to buy low wheels and use them with
the running gear of the high-wheeled
wagon, and another is to purchase the
complete wagon, which possibly has
axles and other equipment a little
stronger.
The height of the wheels is a matter
of importance. A good many farmers
do not favor the extremely low wheel,
as they claim it pulls heavier and has
no particular advantage. Experience
has shown that 28-Inch front wheels
and 32-inch rear wheels are the most
satisfactory for general farm use. This,
however, is a matter of taste, but the
lower the wheels, the better. Of
course, they should have 4-inch tires
or wider. W. H. Underwood.
The Wabash Bailroad, after a careful
investigation of the Missouri College of
Agriculture has offered 18 scholarships'
to be awarded to students whowill complete satisfactorily the the Short Course
in Agriculture at Columbia.