2 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER. 
January  2 
to  enable  the  vegetables  to  start.  To  prevent  the  gar¬ 
dens  from  being  blown  away  in  the  strong  sea  breezes, 
they  mulched  them  heavily  with  salt  hay.  A  high 
board  fence  around  them  was  necessary  to  keep  the 
sand  from  other  lots  from  covering  them  like  a  snow 
drift.  It  is  said  that  the  gardens  contain  soil  brought 
from  Cuba,  Jamaica,  Portugal,  Spain,  France,  Eng¬ 
land,  Africa  and  almost  every  inhabited  country — for 
in  the  days  of  her  glory  as  a  shipping  port,  her  sailors 
went  everywhere. — R.  N.-Y.] 
The  most  liberal  use  of  ballast-soil  was  probably 
made  by  the  Nicker  Sob  family,  extensive  owners  of 
vessels,  but  what  they  used  came  from  where  their 
vessels  were  built,  across  Massachusetts  Ray  only,  and 
not  from  foreign  climes.  I  have  no  doubt  that  there 
is  such  foreign  soil  in  town,  but  I  cannot  identify  it. 
A  merflber  of  the  family  mentioned  informs  me  that 
the  best  spot  on  the  premises  is  that  formerly  occupied 
by  the  woodshed.  Two  of  our  farmers  nearest 
Provencetown  do  quite  a  business  hauling  soil — chiefly 
for  cemetery  improvement.  The  freighting  of  clay 
and  gravel  for  road  use  is  a  regular  but  small  business. 
Here  is  a  bit  of  experience  in  sand  and  water  farm¬ 
ing.  Twenty-five  years  ago  a  dyke  was  built  at  State 
expense.  Among  other  changes  thereby 
"effected,  a  large  area  of  sand  and  fine 
gravel  was  left  above  water.  I  say 
above  water  ;  but  as  a  matter  of  fact  the 
fresh  water  rises  and  falls  many  inches 
with  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  salt  water 
of  the  bay  ;  for  as  the  latter  advances, 
it  causes  the  former  to  backwater.  A 
few  years  after  the  dyke  was  built, 
we  planted  this  ‘  ‘  bar  ”  with  potatoes 
and  pumpkins.  Less  than  an  acre  was 
available  as  the  lower  levels  were 
drowned  out.  At  no  point  was  the  de¬ 
posit  of  vegetable  and  sediment  matter 
over  one  inch  deep,  and  two  spots  were 
real  gravel  beds  barely  giving  cover. 
I  cannot  recall  that  we  manured  the 
place  at  all ;  the  potato  crop  was  slim — 
I  think  about  GO  bushels,  but  there  were 
over  1%  ton  of  pumpkins,  some  of 
which  weighed  30  and  even  35  pounds 
each.  The  land  lay  idle  until  1883  when 
it  had  grown  a  crop  of  Bayberries  or 
Wax  Myrtles  (Myrica  cerifera).  It  was 
manured  with  stable  manure,  plowed 
and  planted  with  potatoes,  no  manure 
being  put  in  the  hill  ;  165  bushels  were 
grown — some  being  very  large.  Early 
in  August  some  early-dug  hills  were 
planted  with  Cranberry  Beans,  and 
gave  snap  beans  before  frost.  1  should 
add  that  owing  to  water  protection  we 
seldom  have  frost  before  October,  and 
this  season  not  before  November.  The 
place  was  planted  with  potatoes  again 
the  next  year,  but  the  crop  was  less 
and  the  following  year  it  was  seeded 
with  grass,  clover  and  oats.  It  pro¬ 
duces  annually  two  crops  of  hay  with 
light  manuring  and  the  clover  has  never 
run  out  entirely.  I  was  led  to  relate 
this  by  reading  the  experiment  described 
on  page  818  of  The  Rural,.  Cape  Cod  farming  is 
subject  to  many  limitations,  among  which  are  severe 
winds  and  the  absence  of  snow  in  winter.  I  am  con¬ 
vinced  that  when  the  conditions  are  all  balanced,  we 
have  no  reason  to  decry  our  native  soil. 
A  Kansas  Beef  Factory. 
MANUFACTURING  FERTILITY  FOR  POTATO  GROUND. 
Even  Kansas  soil  has  a  limit ;  is  steer  refuse  cheapest  t 
Marketing  supplement  crops;  out-doors  or  in?  A  big 
building  investnumt ;  where  can  one  go  for  guiding 
facts  ?  A  22-cent  ration  ;  some  pointed  questions  ;  elo¬ 
quence  for  the  steer. 
Starting  This  “Infant  Industry.” 
The  R.  N.-Y.  asks  for  some  accent  of  my  “beef 
factory.”  I  give  it  with  the  more  readiness  in  the 
hope  that  The  Rural  itself,  or  any  of  its  readers  who 
may  be  experienced  cattle-feeders,  will  kindly  point 
out  to  me,  a  beginner  in  this  line,  some  of  the  mis¬ 
takes  I  am  no  doubt  making. 
By  way  of  preface,  let  me  say  that  I  have  not  under¬ 
taken  to  feed  cattle  as  a  “  hedge  ”  on  the  potato  busi¬ 
ness,  in  which  I  am  engaged  :  nor  have  I  lost  faith  in 
the  doctrine  of  specialties  in  farming.  1  still  call  my¬ 
self  a  potato  planter,  when  stating  my  occupation, 
and  intend  this  side-interest  to  be  purely  an  adjunct 
of  the  potato  culture.  In  order  to  continue  planting 
potatoes  on  the  same  ground,  year  after  year,  and  all 
the  time  get  profitable  yields,  something  must  go  back 
to  the  land.  From  the  experience  I  have  haff  with 
commercial  fertilizers,  I  am  convinced  that  their  use 
is  not  profitable  to  a  mid-continent  farmer,  like  my¬ 
self,  whose  erbps  are  commonly  low  while  his  freights 
are  always  high.  The  refuse  resulting  from  the 
manufacture  of  fat  ‘  ‘  figures  out  ”  as  the  cheapest 
source  of  fertility  open  to  me.  Some  day,  perhaps,  I 
can  tell  whether  it  works  out  as  it  figures ;  in  any 
case,  while  I  hope  to  inn  this  factory  at  a  profit,  with¬ 
out  regard  to  the  resulting  output  of  fertilizer,  yet 
the  fertilizer  will  be  the  objective  point.  Should  the 
scheme,  from  any  cause,  fail  to  work,  I  shall  then 
have  to  cut  the  potato  crop  in  two  and  fall  back  or 
forward  to  Mr.  Terry’s  practice — that  of  alternating 
potatoes  with  clover. 
Home  Market  for  Second  Crops. 
Then  again,  I  have  undertaken  to  feed  cattle  for  the 
purpose  of  making  a  home-market  for  the  crops 'which 
can  be  raised  after  early  potatoes  are  harvested,  such 
as  early  varieties  of  corn,  sweet  corn,  millet,  turnips, 
etc.  When  potatoes  are  dug  from  June  35  to  July  30, 
the  dates  between  which  the  early  potatoes  are  mainly 
sold  in  this  vicinity,  the  ground  must  be  replanted,  cul¬ 
tivated  in  fallow  or  allowed  to  grow  up  in  grass  and 
weeds.  Of  course  the  last  must  be  kept  down,  and  it 
costs  no  more  to  do  it  with  a  crop  than  without  one  ; 
and  some  of  my  neighbors  think  that  the  following 
crop  of  potatoes  is  better  after  corn  or  turnips  than 
after  bare  tillage.  In  this  latitude  corn  planted  in 
July  often  does  surprisingly  well.  This  year,  for 
instance,  although  the  fall  was  very  dry — much  less 
favorable  than  usual  for  late  crops — Pride  of  the  North 
Corn,  which  I  planted  on  July  13,  made  an  estimated 
yield  of  six  tons  of  ensilage  per  acre,  containing  what 
was  estimated  at  30  bushels  of  grain  per  acre,  mostly 
glazed  when  cut.  At  that  rate,  an  acre  would  furnish 
sufficient  roughness  to  feed  a  steer  365  days  and  grain 
enough  to  keep  him  on  full  feed  for  50  days.  Now, 
supposing  the  grain  ration  for  this  steer  for  the  remain¬ 
ing  315  days  to  be  bought,  the  problem  is :  Will  the 
droppings  of  'a  steer,  full-fed,  for  365  days  in  the  year 
keep  up  the  productiveness  of  naturally  good  land  that 
is  bringing  crops  both  of  potatoes  and  corn,  every 
season  ? 
Having  decided  to  go  into  this  enterprise,  the  ques¬ 
tion  arose  as  to  whether  it  could  be  conducted  more 
economically  under  cover  or  in  the  open  air.  It  is  safe 
to  say  that  most  of  the  beef  made  in  this  country  is 
made  out-of-doors.  In  this  State  out-door  feeding 
is  almost  universally  practiced.  Some  feeders  have 
sheds ;  but  the  great  majority  feed  in  a  bunch  of 
timber  along  the  banks  of  a  stream  without  any  other 
shelter.  It  is  reported  that  Prof.  Georgeson,  of  the 
State  Agricultural  College,  is  feeding  some  steers  this 
winter,  with  a  view  to  deciding,  as  far  as  one  trial 
may  do  so,  whether  sheltered  or  semi-sheltered  or 
unsheltered  animals  have  the  better  qualities.  But 
few  matters  that  involve  more  money  to  the  farmers  of 
the  State  could  engage  his  attention.  Buildings  for 
all  our  Kansas  cattle  would  cost  millions  of  dollars  ; 
they  might  save  us  twice  their  cost  and — they  might 
not.  The  problem  is  by  no  means  so  one-sided  as  some 
of  our  easy-chair  farmers  seem  to  think. 
How  the  Steers  are  Made  Comfortable. 
I  concluded  to  feed  under  cover,  and  made  my  first 
attempt  last  winter,  in  a  building  113x34  feet,  with  an 
annex  for  an  engine,  as  shown  in  cut  Fig.  3.  The 
first  16  feet  of  the  building  were  taken  up  with  the 
water  tank,  power  cutter,  grinding  mill,  pump  and 
storage  ;  the  remainder,  96  feet  in  length,  was  divided 
by  an  eight-foot  alley  into  two  equal  parts,  each  13  feet 
wide.  Within  the  alley  were  mangers  running  its 
entire  length.  Between  the  mangers  was  a  track  upon 
which  ran  a  car  carrying  food  to  the  animals.  In  each 
manger  were  water-boxes.  The  space  on  each  side  of 
the  alley  was  divided  by  portable  feeding  racks  into 
four  pens,  each  33x13  feet.  In  each  of  these  eight  dis¬ 
horned  steers  were  placed,  loose  like  so  many  sheep, 
and  kept  there  without  removal  till  sold.  The  food 
given  was  dry  corn  fodder,  cut  fine  and  kept  constantly 
in  the  racks,  and  corn-and-cob  meal  mixed  with  about 
one-sixth  in  bulk  of  ground  oil  cake.  The  greatest 
objection  to  the  plan  was  the  difficulty  of  getting  suf¬ 
ficient  bedding.  This  year,  I  have  ex¬ 
tended  the  building  118  feet,  including  a 
10-foot  drive-way  between  the  new  and 
old  parts,  have  floored  them  both  with 
two-inch  plank,  put  in  manure  gutters 
and  tied  the  cattle  up.  I  use  no  bed¬ 
ding  whatever.  The  gutters  have  out¬ 
lets  at  convenient  distances  opening 
into  shallow  cisterns  outside,  in  which 
the  manure  is  deposited,  ready  for  haul¬ 
ing.  The  mangers  are  provided  with 
water  troughs,  each  of  which  has  its 
own  hydrant.  At  intervals  of  three  feet 
along  the  manger  is  a  chain  and  at¬ 
tached  to  every  chain  is  a  steer — there 
being  136  head  in  all,  mainly  three-year- 
olds,  averaging  1,037  pounds  apiece 
when  put  up  on  October  31.  The  entire 
building  is  330  feet  long,  with  a  railroad 
from  end  to  end.  The  road  runs  on  to 
the  silo  and  alongside  of  it  under  the 
pitch  holes. 
The  silo  is  65x33,  outside  measurement, 
and  contains  three  bins,  each  30x30  feet 
and  31  feet  deep.  It  is  made  in  the  best 
manner,  wdth  stone  foundation,  shingle 
roof,  3x10  studding  set  13  inches  apart 
from  center  to  center,  sheeted  with  ship- 
lap  on  the  outside  and  inside  with  two 
thicknesses  of  dressed  boards  with  tar 
paper  between.  It  cost  about  $700.  The 
cattle  shed  is  built  as  cheaply  as  pos¬ 
sible  to  be  serviceable  and  substan¬ 
tial.  The  outside  posts  are  set  in  the 
ground.  The  eaves  are  six  feet  high. 
The  roof  is  made  of  boards  well  lapped. 
Ventilation  is  provided  for  in  the  peak. 
It  cost  a  trifle  less  than  $1,000.  The 
engine,  grinder,  cutter,  turnip-pulper, 
well,  pump,  tank,  belts,  shafting,  pul¬ 
leys,  etc.  ,  cost  about  $800  more,  so  that  the 
layout  cost  me  in  round  numbers  $3,500- 
Where  Can  I  Learn  “Why?” 
I  n  making  this  outlay  I  acted  upon  the  supposition 
that  ensilage  fed  under  cover  was  preferable  to  dry 
fodder  fed  under  the  canopy.  But  supposition,  opinion, 
hearsay  and  “  reasons  why  ”  were  all  the  guidance  I 
could  get  upon  this  important  topic.  In  that  still  more 
perplexing  quandary,  how  a  building  should  be  best 
constructed  and  arranged  for  cattle  feeding,  and  in 
what  manner  and  how  closely  fattening-  cattle  should 
be  confined,  supposing  they  were  confined  at  all,  I 
could  find  no  records  of  trials  made  on  a  working  scale 
and  repeated  till  the  errors  could  be  eliminated  from 
the  calculations  and  the  final  average  taken  as  approxi¬ 
mately  correct.  In  all  other  callings  that  men  follow 
which  have  professional  schools  devoted  to  their  ad¬ 
vancement,  matters  of  like  importance  have  been 
worked  out  in  complete  detail  and  with  absolute  relia¬ 
bility.  The  young  architect  doesn’t  have  to  find  out 
in  the  dear  school  of  experience  what  is  a  sufficient 
foundation  for  a  given  superstructure,  nor  must  the 
engineer  first  test  a  bridge  to  learn  what  it  will  carry  ; 
but,  with  all  the  expenditure  of  public  money  in  the 
search  for  agricultural  truth,  which  one  of  our  experi¬ 
ment  stations  has  got  an  exhaustive  answer  to  these 
and  other  problems  that  confront  the  feeder,  from  the 
“  honest  steer  ”  himself  ? 
Will  the  Steers  Pay  22  Cents  Back? 
The  cattle  I  am  feeding  have  all  the  ensilage  they 
will  eat — about  30  pounds  per  head  per  day.  Until 
the.  turnips  were  spoiled  by  freezing,  they  had  80 
bushels,  pulped,  per  day,  mixed  with  one  peck  of  bran 
to  each  steer.  When  the  turnips  were  done,  the  cat- 
A  Cape  Cod  Corn  Grinder.  Fig.  3.  See  page  1. 
