The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1901-01-18

all the rest of the stock. He wants to
keep his horses near his sheep and keeps
them at an expense of cent day in
winter. He agreed with the doctor in
not wanting medicine given indiscrim-
inately.
After few other remarks the meet
ing was adjourned until the evening
session.
"WEDNESDAY EVENING.
The session was called to order by
chairman Lemon and a song by the
Bancroft high school was announced.
The chief paper of the evening was then
read by School Commissioner o. l..
Bristol on the subject of "'rhe township
system of rural school organization as
it exists in several states" Mr.. Bristol
called the attention of those present to
some of the defects in the present sys-
tenn and showed how the Capitalization
into he township system would result
in saving money. The address was q
thoughtful one and gave many of those
present some new thoughts on the sub
ject.
In the absence of Mr.. A. L. Bird,
who was unable to be present to respond
to his subject of the farmer as busi-
nessman. Mr.. Oviatt gave talk on "Sun-
shine" which was entertaining and in
structive in the best sense of the word
In fact Mr.. Oviatt succeeded In pouring
little sunshine into the lives of all
those who heard him. The session
closed after two select readings, trio.
and solo, the latter being sung by Mr.
Claud Martin.
THURSDAY FORENOON.
The morning session was called to
order little before ten O'clock, by the
chairman and prayer was offered by
Rev. G. H. Danes, of Bancroft. The
chairman then being obliged to absent
himself. Vice President John Patched
was called to the chair for the forenoon
session.
The first number on the program was
gwen by Mr.. l.. j. Post the subject be.
ing Setting and Cultivating the Apple
Orchard" There is not much danger
in getting the ground too rich for set
ting out an apple orchard. To plow
under crop of clover is about the best.
Cow peas will do if the clover fails to
catch and may be needed on dry land
The cow peas are also good, especially
good, for both cattle and hogs. The
apple trees themselves, he usually pre-
fers to set about twenty-four feet
apart. The feeding roots do not belong
in the hard ground but near the surface.
1t is unnecessary to pour in large
quantities of water while setting. Two
men can set 1000 to 1900 trees in a day
In propagating apple trees, the old plan
was to take scions from bearing trees
and whip. graft them on the small plants
which are raised from seeds. The
trouble with this method is that the
fruit bearing qualities seem to get bred
out. The new method is to take the
scions from two year old stock. A man
with little practice can re-top from
two hundred to three hundred young
trees in day. Mr.. Post prefers to start
the new top about four feet from the
ground. The whole original top of
young trees is cut of and II one scion
lives it is all that is needed. In graft
ingr he showed a method superior to the
old way Of splitting the limb on which
the graft is to be placed. He saws a
small slit lengthwise in the stub and then
cuts V.shaped piece out from the two
sides of this with his knife The base
of the scion is cut in corresponding A.
shape to match. Place this in the "
shaped groove, always being sure that
one side at least of the inner back of the
scion meets the inner back of the other
exactly. An orchard bought for Wag
oners and turning out to be Ben Davis
was top worked in this way in the
northern part of the state few year
ago and is now far better orchard th an
II would have been with the Wagner
trunks as ordered. For fertilizi ng the
orchard both clover and COW peas are
good as is also corn If the ears are
picked and the stalks left on the ground
Rye is better than nothing but not as
good as oats. The Missouri Early Is
probably the best variety Of the Cow
Pea for this state Scions are cut by Mr..
Post before the danger of severe cold,
usually in January or February, then
bundled and labeled aud kept in cool
place. Then graft just before the buds
start. The old fashioned home made
wax with tallow, 1, beeswax, 2; rosin, 4
parts, cannot be beaten.
Another change was made In the pro-
gram after the apple talk Of Mr.. Post
and Mr.. Chas b. Cook was called on
for he topic, lessons for Michigan
from New York." Mr.. Cook had pre-.
pared map showing the relative dis.
tance of this part of Michigan with that
Of Central New York, from Pittsburg
and Buffalo. His point was that Pitts
burv xuh,ob f,;co;unatt Woob.