Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1881-11-23
stock Feeding with Fruit Culture.

| Stock Feeding with Fruit Culture.
Stock feeding is peculiarly adapted to
compensate for the fertility carried of
in fruit crops, and fruit culture and
stock feeding may profitably be joined
together. This is especially true of the
larger fruits, such as apples, pears,
peaches, plums, cherries, etc. These
fruits, after being properly planted and
the trees grown beyond the risk of pos
sible injury, will be benefited if the
orchards are pastured by young stock,
and especially with calves or sheep.
Calves and sheep are fond of fruit, and
wormy, early fallen fruit will be eaten
before the insects escape to the earth,
there to burrow till the next season. We
have known many old orchards, the fruit
of which had become worthless from the
depredations of the curculio, to be en-
tirely renovated, bearing large excellent
fruit, after three years pasturage of
calves. Oae large apple raiser, who
markets many thousand barrels per
year, and pastures calves. sheep and
pigs in different orchards, informed us
that the increased quantity and quality
of fruit woald much more than pay for
all the food the seanimals would consume
if it were purchased; besides, he finds the
growth upon this stock large item Of
profit. He said he had one year pur-
chased ten calves, two months old, and
placed them in ten-acre apple orchard,
which was under the plow, for the pur-
pose of promoting the health and growth
of the trees, and did not furnish much
pasture He therefore fed each calf one
quart of oats and two quarts of mid
dlings per day for four months, begin
ming the first of June, and in October
sold them for stock calves, at profit of
s75 on the lot, over and above the cost
of calves and food. They were estimated
to weigh on an average 500 pounds per
head. These calves picked up all the
wormy fruit as fast as it fell, and their
growth was most rapid after the defec-
tive fruit began to fall.
We know one dairyman owning large
orchard, who, instead of pasturing
calves, turns his cows into his largo ap.
pie orchard as soon as the defective fruit
begins to fall. To prevent them from
reaching apples upon the lower limbs or
from injuring the trees, he has devised
a convenient method of tying the head
down to the level of the position in
which they ordinary hold the head when
not grazing. A leather clasp three inches
wide is buckled around the foreleg with
an inch ring sewed upon one side, and a
rope tied about the horns of proper
length with snap in the lower end to
snap in to the ring on the leg clasp.
This does not require the COW to hold
her head in an unnatural position, but
prevents her from reaching for fruit, and
it can be unsnapped in a moment. He
finds cows the best for consuming this
wormy fruit, especially if there is con-
siderable of it: and as his principal
stock is dairy cows, he saves the expense
and the trouble of keeping young stock
or calves, and thus can devote all the
keep of his farm to dairying. He keeps
no other stock except horses and hogs.
He thinks that dairying and fruit cul-
ture are peculiarly adapted to each
other, for the labor of dairying and fruit
culture do not at all conflict. The apple
crop especially, comes to market in the
fall, when the dairy is at its lowest de-
mand for labor.
Pigs are well adapted to stone fruits,
as they will eat their fruit while calves
will not. Sheep are also good stock for
old orchards, as they eat almost any
kind of fruit, and their droppings are an
excellent fertilizer for fruit trees. Large
orchards may also furnish much green
soiling food for stock, and thus bring a
considerable profit outside of fruit. 1.-THE
farm is nearly all devoted to fruit, stock
may yet be profitable; for after using all
the food grown upon the farm purchased
food may be used with profit on the
growth, beside the manure produced.
Stock feeding is the cheapest m ethod of
producing the compensating fertility for
the fruit carried off year by year. And
it matters not how large or how small
may be the orcharding, some branch of
stock feeding should be carried on as
auxiliary to fruit farming. As grass is
king, the whole business may be sum-
med up in four words-grass, fruit and
stock.