The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1903-02-20

The two days roundup IA
stltute for Van Buren county wa
TO order at III o'clock Tuesday, in
wells opera house 10 Paw Paw, by
{. ID. Lawton of Lawton, who presi,
over the first session, the modesty
President Il. b. Jennings conferring thin
honor on some capable gentleman from
out of town at each of the Paw Paw
sessions. AS the mercury was lowering |
close TO zero, the farmers found it
pleasanter to remain at home than to
brave the storm to attend the institute,
and so the crowd was small but the
session was successful and profitable
one.
In his opening remarks, Chairman
Lawton said the weather bureau man al
ways seemed to have specially cold
weather In store for Institutes in Paw
Paw, as it seemed to him an institute
here was always held in February and in
the same kind of weather. However, he
predicted "a growing and successful
meeting, as Institutes in Van Buren
county are always we'll attended, as our
varied agricultural interests, wide variety
of topics and bright men to aid in their
discussion make the meetings profitable.
w. w. Farnsworth was unable to be
present and the chairman introduced j.
n. Stearns of Kalamazoo to handle his
subject, "1he Farmer as Fruitgrower"
and the audience was perfectly satisfied
with the substitution. He said the
topic reminded him of little anecdote
of lumberman who, numbering having
played out, though he would engage in
agriculture and the raising of blooded
stock, and commenced with chickens.
| lie was successful in Matching nice lot
of them. but they commenced dying.
He studied his poultry books, but could
not solve the difficulty, so went to
woman neighbor who had been success
ful IN chicken raising. She could give
him no relief but, as he was leaving, she
asked him what he fed them, Feed
them?" he asked, Il supposed the old
hen would nurse them when young"
The speaker feared many farmers showed
the same ignorance with their lands.
Mr.. Stearns has for years driven frequent
| ly between his Kalamazoo home and his
South Haven fruit farm, and says he
finds no well cared for orchards until lie
gets into the fruit belt. He attributes
it to ignorance Of proper methods, result
ing IN neglect of what might be the
most profitable of any crop on the farm.
| He has watched it for 10 years, and
thinks s. per barrel not too high an
average winter price for the choicest
apples. Many orchards out of the fruit
! belt are good trees, on good soil, and if
cared for would yield excellent fruit.
| Mr.. Stearns pleaded for the raising of
all fruits at least for family use, for the
| pleasure and health of it, as well as the
actual profit Many farmers are preju-
/ diced against it because of trouble, but if
they would plant their small fruits in
! long rows, they could be easily and
! quickly cultivated once or twice a week.
Mr.. Stearns argued strenuously for the
putting of potash back on the ground.
! lie said tree capable of bearing five
| bushels of apples would take five pounds
of potash from the ground, and if it bore
the apples five pounds more. How many
! farmers put it back? Not one along the
road until the fruit belt is reached. The
speaker considers wood ashes the cheap
est and best, but if he could not get
| them would use potash IN some other
form. He considers ashes valuable foTany
farm crop. They will give gloss, suliGity,
size and quality to Strawberries. He be
! ieves he can ship peaches hundreds of
miles farther if ashes are used around
! the trees. He thinks them worth %
cents per bushel compared with other
fertilizers if you couldn't get them for
less.
Mr.. Lawton opened the discussion, and
thought probably nowhere else could
the general farmer so easily raise all
leading fruits for home use.
A. G.. Glidden paid a tribute to those
pioneer fruitgrowers, Mr.. Bitely and Mr..
Lawton of Lawton, and Mr. Engle of
Paw Paw, to whom the fruitgrowers owe
so much.
II. ID. Sprague took part in the dis
cussion of the apple question, and doubt
ed if the soil here was equal to that of
western New York for apple raising.
Geo f.. Rowe of Grand Rapids and G.
j. Monroe of South Haven thought it
was.
{ Edison Woodman thought the farmer
should be a specialist, and if he wanted
to raise fruit, to raise fruit, and if he
was general farmer, buy his fruit. He
said he could tend 10 acres of potatoes
easier than he could tend and pick Il
!, acre of strawberries. He who wants to
raise grapes should set 10 acres or more,
and asparagus and other specialties the
same way.
II. A. Farrand of tho South Haven ex-
pertinent station read an interesting
paper on pruning and Thinning Fruit"
He said the fact that 1t pays to prune
and thin is being demonstrated every
year. GAS the twig is bent, so the tree is
inclined" Don't have crooked trees in
the orchard. Prune them young and
r head them low-cherries and pears
especially as low as two or two and a
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