Two years ago when my orchard was
six years old I had three railroad men
with me and one of them made this re
mark, and the rest acquiesced: "I was
raised in and about the northern part
of New York State, but I never saw
trees as large and uniformiy healthy
as these." Now this was in a section
where they laughed and scorned the
idea of trees. When I told them I was
going to set an orchaad upon a slope
and cultivate it from early spring until
late fall, they all laughed. Jut what it
meant I did not know, but afterwards
learned two things they had remarked:
I had picked the poorest piece of ground
in the whole country. They said the
land had been farmed for fourteen
years and never had but one crop.
When it came to the question of con
tinuous cultivation they said they
would wait and see. Now they say they
have never seen a batter orchard.
What about potatoes?
In a sandy loam soil I can see no rea
son why you should not raise potatoes.
The preparation of the soil and hand
ling of it is practically all. I would
plant reasonably early and steer clear
of frost. Planting reasonably early
with not too much seed I would prefer
large potatoes cut as near two eyes as
possible. Plant one piece in a hill and
place your hills about twenty inches
apart. Use the harrow freely until the
potatoes are up so high you can not get
through with a team, then cultivate.
