692 



gleakikgs in bee culture. 



Sept. 



has been treated, almost from tirst to last. 1 

 have sometimes wondered why our agricul- 

 tural papers were in the habit of giving 

 place, as much as they do. to unkind and 

 uncourteous criticism." \>ry likely, a cer- 

 tain amount of good-natured controversy 

 adds spice to what might otherwise be dry 

 reading. Very likely our editors have dis- 

 covered that few subjects interest people as 

 much as some discourse in regard to our 

 friend Teri-y. 1 myself confess that, when I 

 look over the pages of the Ohio Farmer, I 

 fust turn to see if there is any thing from 

 friend Terry. I next look for the articles 

 where tiie name " Terry " occurs, running 

 down the columns ; and even if these arti- 

 cles are overbearing and rude and unreason- 

 able, I read them all through. I believe 

 that, as a general thing, they contain valua- 

 ble information ; but I do feel, dear friends, 

 that we might have all this valuable infor- 

 mation just exactly as well, and have every 

 article written in the spirit of our little text 

 — "• pure, peaceable, gentle ; easy to be en- 

 treated ; full of mercy ; without partiality, 

 and without hypocrisy." One would have 

 to be almost a saint, 1 admit, to have a char- 

 acter in full accord with this summing-up. 



Please bear with me, dear friends, if I 

 have a good deal to say about Mr. Terry 

 just now, for this subject illusLrates quite 

 vividly the point I wish to make. A' great 

 many farmers have declared that the number 

 of tools which he recommends lor a small farm 

 is dangerous advice ; that it would shipwreck 

 almost any farmer to put so much money 

 into implements; and one writer recently 

 took up this point strongly, and for illustra- 

 tion declared that friend Terry's tools and 

 implements cost him at least one hundred 

 dollars per acre. A simple sum in addition, 

 however, showed that his tools could all be 

 bought for the modest sum of sixteen dollars 

 per acre ! Another wrote an article that I 

 should call abusive, because Mr. Terry hap- 

 pened to mention that his horses are kept 

 entirely on nicely cured clover hay, without 

 any grain ; and over and over again I have 

 heard farmers say that the thing was an 

 impossibility, and that Mr. Terry did not 

 tell the truth. Now, 1 do not know that 

 friend Terry has ever recommended any- 

 body to follow his practice in this respect. 

 He simply remarked that that was the way 

 he did. Of course, others can do as they 

 choose, and no hard feelings. 



At our visit we discovered that Mr. Terry's 

 beautiful new stables, in connection with 

 the model barn, contained no mangers what- 

 ever. In fact, he had no grain on his farm. 

 He does not raise oats or corn, and has no 

 use for either of them. Not a pig nor a 

 chicken is to be found on his premises; and 

 this may account somewhat for the order 

 and neatness, and freedom from any bad 

 smells, which characterize his premises. 

 This matter of feeding no grain has called 

 forth more unkind hits than any thing else 

 I know of; but why should he be accused of 

 having a selfish motive in advocating grass 

 instead of grain ? Many of my farnaer 

 friends have insisted that his horses do not 

 draw heavy loads. Another declares they 

 certainly do not go off from a walk, etc. 



When we arrived there, his two teams were 

 absent, carrying loads of wheat to the depot. 

 We watched them as they came in on a 

 good smart trot— with an empty wagon, of 

 course. They were large, poVverful farm 

 horses, and I think they would stand up to 

 work fairly with any grain-fed team. 



Friend T. has advocated quite strongly, of 

 late, a covered barnyard. Surely no farmer 

 or anybody else could object to such an ar- 

 rangement. Kind reader, what is the state 

 of the barnyards in your neighborhood a 

 good part of the year? Well, one writer 

 attacked the covered barnyard almost sneer- 

 ingly. When we arrived, as the day was 

 warm my cousin wanted his horses in some 

 shady place, out of the sun, so he drove into 

 the covered barnyard. When the two big 

 teams came home they drove in also, to back 

 up their wagons to load up their wheat. You 

 see, if it rains they can get a load in readi- 

 ness to start all the same. Well, my cousin's 

 team and buggy were not in the w^ay at all, 

 because there was plenty of room for the 

 two other teams, with their great wagons, all 

 inside of the covered barnyard. 



A tool-house is an excellent thing, as we 

 happen to know; but to get all the tools 

 under shelter they must be pushed up pretty 

 closely together. During the hurrying time of 

 harvest and planting, it is a very great con- 

 venience to have the tools where any one of 

 them can be hitched on to speedily, and yet 

 have them all sheltered from the sim and 

 rain at the same time. This covered barn- 

 yard cost only $200, yet it gives ample room, 

 and has'a metal roof at that. 



In our neighborhood, and at our conven- 

 tions, a greatjdeal of bitterness has been ex- 

 hibitedju regard to cutting potatoes to one 

 eye, and friend Terry has been broadly ac- 

 cused of damaging the public by sticking to 

 this singular proceeding, which has neither 

 sense nor reason to commend it. Those who 

 make the latter point, however, have never 

 read his repeated explanations. Well, I 

 timed'my visit so as to be present when they 

 were digging their potatoes. I saw the 

 McCallam potato-digger, made all of steel 

 and iron, drawn by a pair of the same grass- 

 fed horses, that did the work ot fifteen men 

 in digging' potatoes. It did it, also, nicely 

 and easily, and left the ground in beautiful 

 condition for wheat. I helped to pick up 

 the potatoes, and noticed the remarkable 

 point that friend Terry has made so often. 

 The potatoes were almost all large nice 

 ones, with comparatively few small ones. 

 A great deal of the time one large stalk 

 would be all there was in the hill. This one 

 large stalk gave a cluster of the finest large 

 potatoes. Had there been several eyes there 

 would have been several small stalks in 

 place of this one large one, and the result 

 would have been the same as eight or ten 

 stalks of corn in a hill — no large ears, but a 

 great lot of nubbins. 



To test the average yield per acre, a 

 square rod of ground was measured off in 

 dilferent parts of the fields, and the general 

 average could be arrived at quite readily. 

 If a square rod gives two bushels of pota- 

 toes, the average yield is 820 bushels per 

 acre. At some places the yield was less 



