1892 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER. 
85 
making'  the  application  of  the  principle  to  personal 
property,  and  to  indebtedness  which  is  of  record. 
Practically,  both  escape  taxation,  almost  wholly.  How¬ 
ever,  if  it  be  a  fact  that  justice  is  not  done,  or  cannot 
be  done,  in  the  taxation  of  other  things,  that  is  no 
reason  for  refusing  it  where  it  can  be  done. 
The  State  of  Connecticut  has  not,  for  a  long  time,  if 
ever,  taxed  both  land  and  mortgage,  and  it  now  ex¬ 
empts  from  all  other  taxation  all  notes  and  bonds, 
upon  payment,  by  the  holder  of  one-fifth  of  one  per 
cent  per  annum  to  the  State  Treasurer,  thus  recogniz¬ 
ing  the  justice  of  the  principle  so  far  as  to  minimize 
any  injustice  in  cases  where  both  the  personal  prop¬ 
erty  and  the  money  owed  for  it  are  assessed.  But  it 
still  perpetrates  the  wrong  of  taxing  savings  bank 
deposits,  loaned  on  real  estate,  more  than  enough  to 
pay  the  cost  of  supervision.  A.  j.  coe. 
A  Wise  Tax  Reformer. — On  page  848  of  The  Rural 
for  1891,  a  writer  says  he  would  like  to  have  some  wise 
tax  reformer  arise  in  his  wisdom  and  tell  why  real 
estate  taxes  bear  least  heavily  on  the  farmer.  On  page 
852  we  are  told  that  Henry  George  favors  “land”  as 
the  best  taxable  property.  Now,  Mr.  George  in  none 
of  his  books  or  speeches  proposes  a  tax  on  land  ;  what 
he  does  propose  is  a  tax  on  land  values — a  very  dif¬ 
ferent  thing.  I  will  try  to  tell  why  a  ‘  ‘  single  tax  ” 
on  land  values  will  bear  lightly  on  the  farmers. 
I  have  been  told  by  real  estate  dealers  that  the  farms 
of  Massachusetts  are  taxed  for  more  than  their  selling 
value,  buildings  and  improvements  included,  and,  in 
addition  to  this  tax,  the  farmer  is  taxed  on  his  personal 
property,  which,  owing  to  the  exertion  of  the  Grange, 
this  year  includes  hens.  Now,  the  “  single  tax  ”  pro¬ 
poses  to  exempt  his  personal  property,  buildings  and 
improvements,  and  tax  only  the  value  which  attaches 
to  his  land  by  reason  of  its  situation.  The  farmer 
who  enjoys  the  privilege  of  holding  a  piece  of  land  in 
the  center  of  a  thickly  settled  community  must  pay  to 
the  community  what  that  special  privilege  is  worth  ; 
while  the  farmer  who  has  a  farm  “  several  miles  from 
nowhere  ”  will  have  to  pay  what  the  privilege  of  hold¬ 
ing  that  land  is  worth.  Now,  I  think  that  under  this 
system  the  farmer’s  tax,  in  99  cases  out  of  100,  would 
be  much  less  than  under  our  present  system,  when, 
as  “  Jerseyman  ”  says,  we  are  taxed  for  what  we  spend 
on  our  places.  geo.  n.  smith. 
ANSWER  TO  CORRESPONDENTS. 
[Every  query  must  be  accompanied  by  the  name  and  address  of  the 
writer  to  Insure  attention.  Before  asking  a  question,  please  see  If  It  Is 
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at  one  time.  Put  questions  on  a  separate  piece  of  paper.] 
A  Straw-Feeding-  Q-rist  from  Grundy. 
F.  L.  H.,  Manitoba. — What  does  Fred  Grundy  do  with 
wheat  straw  when  he  has  too  much  ?  I  cannot  make 
the  cattle  eat  much  of  it  while  there  is  oat  straw  or 
hay  on  hand.  What  stock  will  use  it  most  profitably  ? 
Pigs  will  tramp  it  well,  and  sheep  will  eat  it  if  starved 
to  it ;  but  mine  won’t.  At  our  experiment  station  the 
folks  let  it  rot,  but  burned  some  this  year. 
Ans. — When  in  Minnesota  a  few  years  ago,  I  noticed 
that  the  spring-wheat  straw  appeared  to  be  stiffer, 
harder  and  otherwise  quite  different  from  the  winter- 
wheat  straw  in  this  section,  and  I  suppose  the  wheat 
straw  in  Manitoba  is  like  that  in  Minnesota.  Judging 
from  what  I  saw  of  it  while  working  among  it  a  few 
weeks,  I  should  incline  to  the  opinion  that  Dr.  Stew¬ 
art’s  North  Carolina  brush  contains  more  nutriment 
and  is  more  digestible  than  it  is.  In  this  section  we 
cut  our  winter  wheat  just  as  soon  as  it  is  hardened, 
sometimes  a  little  before,  and  then  the  straw  is  not  en¬ 
tirely  ripe  and  dry.  If  it  is  not  allowed  to  stand  in  the 
shock  too  long  before  it  is  stacked  or  thrashed,  it  makes 
very  fair  feed.  Horses,  cattle  and  sheep  eat  the  greater 
part  of  it — perhaps  two-thirds — and  with  the  addition 
of  one  good  grain  ration  a  day,  they  will  winter  on  it 
nicely.  I  noticed  that  in  Minnesota  the  wheat  was  not 
harvested  until  the  straw  was  entirely  ripe,  and  I  sup¬ 
pose  the  same  is  the  case  in  Manitoba.  If  so,  our 
friend’s  straw  would  really  contain  no  more  nutriment 
than  dry  brush,  and  his  cattle  and  sheep  would  starve 
to  death  on  it  even  though  they  kept  themselves  as  full 
as  aldermen. 
We  rarely  have  more  straw  here  than  we  can  man¬ 
age.  In  1890  our  wheat  crop  was  rather  light,  and  the 
straw  sold  at  what  was  here  considered  high  prices. 
Last  year  we  had  an  extra  fine  crop,  and  though  straw 
was  abundant,  I  noticed  that  very  nearly  all  of  it  in 
this  locality  was  carefully  stacked.  By  means  of  an 
extra  carrier  which  stands  at  the  rear  of  the  machine, 
the  straw  is  elevated  to  a  height  of  20  feet  or  more,  and 
can  be  stacked  to  keep  as  well  as  hay.  The  carrier 
can  be  turned  about  as  desired,  and  the  stack  built  in 
the  form  of  a  half  circle.  When  we  have  an  abundant 
supply  of  it,  the  cattle,  horses  and  sheep  are  given  free 
access  to  it,  and  they  generally  have  the  stack  down 
by  the  time  the  grass  comes,  though  they  do  not  eat 
over  one-third  to  one-half  of  it.  The  mixture  of  their 
droppings  with  it  as  it  is  pulled  down,  together  with 
the  trampling  it  receives  converts  it  into  a  sort  of  ma¬ 
nure,  which  is  drawn  out  and  spread  on  grass  or  corn 
land  the  following  autumn.  Its  effect  on  the  soil 
seems  to  be  beneficial,  for  it  invariably  increases  the 
yield  of  grass,  and,  to  a  less  extent,  of  corn.  I  rather 
think  that  it  benefits  grass  land  more  by  its  action  as 
a  mulch  than  as  manure,  and  corn  land  by  increasing 
the  quantity  of  humus,  making  the  soil  lighter  and 
more  porous. 
Some  farmers  keep  the  stock  away  from  the  stacks 
and  feed  the  straw  to  them  as  they  feed  hay,  hauling 
one  or  two  loads  into  the  yard  every  week  and  throw¬ 
ing  it  into  large  feed  racks.  After  the  stock  have 
picked  it  over  what  remains  is  scattered  about  the 
yard  and  under  the  sheds  for  bedding.  A  few  years 
ago  hundreds  of  tons  of  straw  were  burned  in  this 
section,  but  farmers  are  gaining  in  wisdom  and  now 
but  very  little  is  disposed  of  in  that  foolish  manner. 
They  use  it  for  feed,  shed  covers,  wind-breaks  and 
bedding. 
I  think  that  if  I  farmed  in  Manitoba  I  could  find  a 
good  use  for  an  immense  quantity  of  straw.  If  my 
stock  would  eat  oat  straw,  they  should  have  all  they 
wanted,  and  the  wheat  straw  I  would  use  for  bedding, 
shed  covers,  wind-breaks,  etc.  .  f.  grundy. 
Winter  Board  for  Driving:  Horses. 
Several  Subscribers. — 1.  When  farmers  take  gentle¬ 
men’s  horses  to  board  for  the  winter,  what  feed  do 
they  generally  give  ?  2.  How  are  horse  boarders  se¬ 
cured  ?  3.  Are  the  horses  groomed  every  day  ?  4. 
What  prices  are  charged  ? 
Ans. — This  answer  is  sent  by  one  of  our  readers  in 
western  New  York  :  “1.  The  usual  ration  for  winter¬ 
ing  gentlemen’s  road  horses  is :  16  pounds  of  the  best 
Timothy  hay  cut,  with  four  quarts  of  bran  and  one 
quart  of  corn  meal  for  two  feeds,  In  the  morning  and 
at  4  p.  m.  On  fine  days  they  are  let  out  for  exercise, 
and  then  can  get  to  a  straw  stack  ;  they  have  access 
to  good  well  water  daily.  Each  horse  is  kept  in  a  box 
stall  10  feet  square,  with  an  earth  flood,  well  bedded 
night  and  day.  2.  I  have  never  had  any  difficulty  in 
securing  horses  to  board,  as  I  have  an  extensive  ac¬ 
quaintance  among  horsemen ;  if  I  had  not,  I  should 
advertise  in  the  city  papers.  3.  They  need  no  groom¬ 
ing  ;  all  the  attention  they  require  is  that  they  should 
be  fed  at  proper  hours  and  that  the  stalls  should  be 
cleaned  daily,  as  foul  stalls  produce  thrush.  4.  The 
winter  boarding  season  begins  about  November  1,  and 
continues  till  April  1 ;  but  its  length  depends  some¬ 
what  on  the  weather.  Sometimes  the  animals  are  left 
still  longer  and  given  a  few  weeks’  pasture.  The  cost 
of  board  and  care  as  above  is  $2  per  week  ;  and  when 
oats  are  fed  in  addition  to  the  regular  ration,  the  charge 
is  50  cents  per  week  extra  ;  but  few  owners  care  to 
have  oats  fed  when  a  horse  is  turned  out.”  j.  w.  T. 
What  to  Use  With  Ashes. 
O.  W.  L.,  Jeffersonville,  Ind. — Will  ashes  set  any  of 
the  properties  of  bone  meal  free  and  cause  a  loss  if 
compounded  out-of-doors  ?  I  can  get  all  the  ashes  I 
want  at  50  cents  per  ton.  I  use  both  stable  manure 
and  commercial  fertilizers,  but  I  cannot  see  any  benefit 
from  using  ashes  alone.  I  thought  of  trying  them  with 
bone  meal.  Would  The  Rural  advise  the  experiment? 
Ans. — We  would  advise  you  to  use  nitrogen  with  the 
ashes.  Ashes  ought  to  have  at  least  five  per  cent  of 
potash  and  about  1%  per  cent  of  phosphoric  acid. 
Bone  would  furnish  plenty  of  phosphate  and  perhaps 
three  per  cent  of  nitrogen.  We  are  assuming  that  un¬ 
leached  ashes  are  alluded  to.  At  50  cents  a  ton  enough 
might  be  used  to  supply  all  needed  phosphate  at  a 
lower  price  than  it  could  be  obtained  for  in  any  other 
fertilizer,  though  an  immense  quantity  of  potash 
would  be  virtually  wasted.  Try  to  every  ton  of  ashes, 
200  pounds  of  fine  raw  bone  flour  and  100  pounds  of 
nitrate  of  soda,  or  if  your  land  has  already  received 
much  ashes  try  the  bone  and  nitrate  alone.  If  the 
bone  is  sown  alone  (not  mixed  with  ashes)  there  will 
be  no  loss  of  nitrogen. 
Plum  Culture  in  Western  Ohio. 
O.  C.,  New  Madison,  Ohio. — Are  any  of  the  Green 
Gage  or  yellow  varieties  of  plums  profitable  and  reli¬ 
able  in  western  Ohio?  Are  any  of  the  Prune  family  of 
plums  profitable  and  hardy  there? 
Ans. —  I  think  all  the  cultivated  plums  which  are 
suited  to  the  climate  where  grown,  may  be  grown  profit¬ 
ably  in  any  part  of  Ohio,  where  the  black-knot  does 
not  exist,  and  where  the  destructive  attacks  of  the 
curculio  are  carefully  guarded  against.  The  Green 
Gage,  Coe’s  Golden  Drop  and  other  yellow  sorts  are 
nearly  as  reliable  as  the  blue  or  red  varieties;  and  the 
German  Prune,  and  the  Fellenberg  or  Italian  Prune 
may  also  be  included.  Among  the  most  popular  and 
profitable  market  varieties  are  Bradshaw,  Blue  Imper- 
atrice,  Duane’s  Purple,  General  Hand,  Lombard  and 
Pond’s  Seedling.  There  may  also  be  others  of  later  in¬ 
troduction  that  are  equally  good;  but  it  is  safer  to 
plant  old  and  well-tried  varieties,  for  profit.  Profita¬ 
ble  plum-growing,  however,  cannot  be  expected  with¬ 
out  proper  care  and  cultivation  of  the  trees,  and  with¬ 
out  persistent  and  timely  protection  against  the  work 
of  the  curculio.  geo.  w.  Campbell. 
What  Fertilizer  for  an  Apple  Orchard  P 
J.  0.,  Somerset,  N.  Y. — Where  yard  manure  is  out  of 
the  question,  what  fertilizer  can  I  sow  on  my  apple 
orchard  impoverished  by  grain  cropping,  so  as  to  perma¬ 
nently  benefit  the  trees  and  make  clover  seeded  last 
spring  grow.  Years  ago,  land  plaster  was  sown  exten¬ 
sively  on  clover  and  barley  crops  ;  why  not  use  it  now  ? 
Almost  every  old  farmer  acknowledges  it  was  a  great 
benefit.  Would  nitrate  of  soda  benefit  clover?  If  so, 
how  much  should  be  used  per  acre  ?  Would  muriate 
of  potash,  ground  phosphate  and  air-slaked  lime  be 
good  for  an  apple  orchard,  and,  if  so,  what  should  be 
the  proportion  ? 
Ans. — Your  land  may  need  lime;  if  so,  lime  is  just 
as  much  a  fertilizer  as  potash  or  nitrogen.  Whether 
it  does  need  it  or  not  can  be  known  only  by  a  trial. 
Plaster  may  act  as  a  food  indirectly  by  releasing  potash 
or  nitrogen  from  insoluble  compounds.  On  the  apple 
orchard  we  should  sow  muriate  of  potash  and  raw 
bone  in  liberal  quantity.  Unleached  ashes  might  well 
be  substituted  for  the  muriate,  if  they  can  be  bought 
at  a  low  price.  We  never  regard  the  interests  of  fer¬ 
tilizer  firms  as  separate  from  those  of  our  readers. 
Miscellaneous. 
Manure  for  Mushroom  Beds. — Address  mislaid. — In 
making  mushroom  beds  it  is  the  custom  to  mix  the 
manure  with  an  equal  weight  of  loam;  the  manure 
would  therefore  be  diluted  to  the  extent  of  the  soil 
added.  It  is  quite  likely,  too,  that  the  nitrogen  would 
be  reduced  in  greater  proportion  than  the  amount 
taken  by  the  crops,  viz. ,  10  pounds  per  ton  of  crop — - 
owing  to  the  hot  fermentation  necessary  for  the  growth 
of  this  vegetable.  The  amount  of  mineral  matter  re¬ 
moved  by  the  crop  is  small,  since  the  average  analysis 
of  mushrooms  shows  that  one  ton  would  require  only 
10.2  pounds  of  potash,  6.8  pounds  of  phosphoric  acid 
and  0.2  pound  of  lime.  A  ton  of  good  manure  would 
therefore  furnish  more  of  the  mineral  elements  than 
are  required  by  a  ton  of  the  crop.  Manure  which  has 
been  kept  under  cover  in  a  moist,  packed  condition,  is 
less  liable  to  loss  than  that  which  has  been  exposed, 
though  drainage  has  been  prevented.  On  steep  hill 
sides  it  would  be  better  to  apply  the  manure  early 
in  the  spring.  E.  B.  VOORHEE8. 
Whole  or  Cracked  Corn. — E.  W.  N.,  Plymouth  County, 
Mass. — For  young  horses  with  perfect  teeth,  we  do  not 
believe  it  makes  much  difference  whether  corn  is  fed 
on  the  ear  or  “cracked.”  Mr.  Ingham  talked  sensibly 
about  this  on  page  36.  Some  horses  “gobble”  their 
food.  We  should  grind  the  grain  for  such  animals,  and 
feed  it  with  chopped  hay.  At  present  prices  for  most 
parts  of  the  country,  bran  and  linseed  meal  are  cheaper 
and  better  than  corn. 
Tlie  Thorburn  Potato. — G.  S.  S.,  Middleburgh,  Pa. — 
The  Thorburn  Potato  as  raised  at  the  Rural  Grounds, 
is  not  so  early  as  the  Early  Rose.  The  shape  is  better 
and  the  quality  first-rate — the  flesh  white,  the  skin 
buff.  It  yields  about  the  same  as  the  Early  Rose. 
Values  of  Chemicals. — N.  W.,  Saratoga  Springs,  N. 
Y. — Nitrogen  in  ammonia  costs  at  retail  17  cents  per 
pound;  in  nitrates,  as  nitrate  of  soda,  14  cents.  Nitro¬ 
gen  in  fish,  blood  or  meat  costs  17  cents;  in  castor 
pomace  or  cotton-seed  meal  14  cents;  in  bone,  accord¬ 
ing  to  its  fineness,  from  16  to  9  cents;  in  hair,  horn, 
etc.,  8  cents.  Phosphoric  acid  soluble  in  water,  is 
worth  at  retail  8  cents;  soluble  in  citrate  of  ammonia 
7K  cents;  in  fine  bone,  6  cents;  in  fine  rock  phosphate 
2  cents.  Potash  is  worth  as  sulphate  6  cents;  in  kainit 
and  muriate  4%  cents.  At  wholesale  (in  large  quanti¬ 
ties),  the  above  prices  ought  to  be  about  20  per  cent  less. 
Leather  Scraps. — C.  M.  W.,  Rutland,  Ga. — We  are 
not  aware  that  these  have  any  recognized  manurial 
value  except  as  they  may  be  ground  up  by  unprin¬ 
cipled  fertilizer  dealers  to  give,  by  analysis,  a  higher 
showing  of  nitrogen.  They  are  not  worth  paying  any¬ 
thing  for,  but  if  given  away  might  be  composted  with 
ashes  or  potash  salts,  and  then  worked  into  the  manure 
pile. 
Cahbcuje  Lice. — G.  W.  D.,  Herdonsville,  Mich. — The 
kerosene  emulsion  would  have  killed  the  plant  lice 
that  destroyed  your  cabbages.  Send  to  the  Experiment 
Station,  Agricultural  College,  Michigan,  for  a  bulletin 
on  this  emulsion. 
Frost-bitten  Tomatoes. — C.  E.  S.,  Courtney,  Fla. — As  to 
your  inquiry  whether  bearing  tomatoes  whose  leaves 
have  been  wilted  by  frost  while  their  branches  have 
been  only  slightly  injured,  should  be  pruned  back  im¬ 
mediately,  we  doubt  if  pruning  would  pay  for  the 
labor.  The  plants  would  probably  be  benefited  if 
each  stem  were  cut  back  as  far  as  injured  by  frost. 
