1892 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER. 
99 
all  you  know  on  the  subject.  Are  any  of  the  new 
sorts  early  ?  ” 
“Yes.  The  Early  Field  ripens  about  10  days  earlier 
than  the  Bradshaw.  This  plum  originated  in  Scho¬ 
harie  County.  It  resembles  the  Bradshaw  very  much 
in  appearance,  and  is  very  productive.  Peter’s  Yellow 
Gage  is  another  desirable  plum.  It  is  of  excellent 
quality — to  my  taste  fully  equal  to  the  Reine  Claude, 
and  it  is  10  days  earlier.  The  Reine  Claude  is  a  good 
plum,  but  it  is  rather  liable  to  disease.  Peter’s  Yellow 
Gage  is  hardier  and  productive.  I  think  it  a  valuable 
sort.” 
‘  ‘  What  about  those  beautif ul  purple  plums  you  ex¬ 
hibited  at  the  State  Fair?” 
“  There  were  three  new  varieties — the  Grand  Duke, 
the  Archduke  and  the  Monarch.  They  are  all  of  good 
size,  rather  large,  purple  in  color,  and  covered  with  a 
beautiful  bloom,  which  makes  them  very  handsome 
and  attractive.  They  are  also  fine  in  quality.  The 
Archduke  ripens  here  along  the  latter  part  of  Septem¬ 
ber.  The  Grand  Duke  ripens  about  a 
week  later,  and  the  Monarch  from  the 
1st  to  the  10th  of  October.” 
“  Would  you  recommend  planting  these 
varieties  ?  ” 
“  Yes,  of  course,  using  judgment. 
They  may  not  flourish  in  all  sections 
as  well  as  they  do  here,  but  I  am  very 
favorably  impressed  with  them.” 
“  What  about  the  Japanese  plums  ?  ” 
“  Go  slow.  Botan  seems  to  be  the  name 
of  a  family.  We  have  three  varieties 
coming  to  us  under  that  name,  one  of 
which  is  the  Abundance.  This  is  worthy 
of  trial.  Another  we  have  been  trying 
under  the  name  of  Number  2(5,  which 
promises  well.  So  far,  it  has  been  per¬ 
fectly  hardy  and  it  is  early,  ripening 
about  July  15.  It  is  of  medium  size, 
yellow,  with  a  carmine  cheek.  Botan 
we  do  not  recommend.  Another  Japanese 
plum  promises  well,  Burbank’s  Seedling. 
It  was  imported  by  Mr.  Burbank,  of 
California,  from  Japan.  The  fruit  was 
submitted  to  Mr.  Van  Deman,  of  the 
Agricultural  Department,  at  Washington, 
who  named  it  in  honor  of  the  importer. 
Last  season  I  had  my  first  fruit  from  it. 
It  had  been  top-worked  for  two  years. 
It  ripened  late — from  the  3  0th  to  20th  of 
September.  The  quality  is  good.  It  is  a 
yellow  plum,  with  a  carmine  cheek- 
very  handsome  to  look  at.  I  think  very 
highly  of  it.  It  seems  to  have  the  ability 
to  resist  late  spring  frosts — a  thing  which 
seldom  troubles  us  here ;  but  for  the 
first  time  in  many  years,  we  had  one  last 
spring.  Other  plums  suffered  from  it, 
but  this  did  not.  It  carries  very  heavy 
foliage,  which  may  in  part  account  for 
its  resisting  power,  and  it  ripens  its  wood 
perfectly;  It  suffered  less  also  from  the 
ravages  of  the  curculio.” 
“  Do  you  call  it  curculio-proof  ?  ”  said 
The  Rural  with  a  smile  that  was  audible. 
“  My  dear  sir,  there  is  no  such  thing 
as  a  curculio-proof  plum.  That  is  a 
chimera,  a  will-o’-the-wisp,  a  dream  ;  all 
that  can  be  said  is  that  some  varieties 
suffer  less  than  others.” 
Mr.  Willard  pays  particular  attention  to  the  market¬ 
ing  of  his  plums,  as  he  does  indeed  with  all  his  fruits. 
Small  baskets  in  which  the  plums  were  neatly  packed 
in  layers,  was  a  very  popular  and  profitable  style. 
They  were  made  after  the  style  of  the  eight  or  ten- 
pound  grape  basket,  and  when  the  lid  was  taken  off, 
the  beautiful  fruit  was  sold  at  sight.  He  does  not  rely 
entirely  on  Eastern  markets.  While  he  sells  in  New 
York,  Boston  and  Philadelphia,  he  also  does  a  large 
and  profitable  business  in  Chicago  and  other  Western 
cities.  No  one,  more  than  he,  understands  more  per¬ 
fectly  the  wisdom  of  carefully  assorting  fruit  and  of 
putting  it  on  the  market  in  an  attractive  shape. 
He  has,  as  The  Rural  has  found  out,  very  decided 
opinions  as  to  the  worthlessness  of  the  Russian  apri¬ 
cots,  which  have  been  hawked  about  the  country — he 
would  not  advise  their  planting  at  all.  None  of  them, 
so  far  as  he  has  been  able  to  see,  have  anything  to 
recommend  them  to  the  fruit  growing  public.  The 
Russian  Mulberry  he  puts  in  the  same  list — he  has 
found  it  utterly  worthless. 
The  Rural  learned  from  Mr.  Willard  that  he  was 
greatly  pleased  with  Sutton’s  Beauty — a  Massachusetts 
apple,  specimens  of  which  he  showed  us.  It  is  better 
in  quality  than  the  Baldwin,  ripens  about  with  it, 
is  about  the  same  size,  or  a  little  under,  and  one  of  the 
handsomest  of  apples.  He  also  spoke  well  of  the  Long- 
field,  one  of  the  Russians — a  yellow  skinned  apple  with 
some  red,  of  good  quality  and  ripening  from  January 
20th  to  February  20th. 
That  Kansas  Beef  Factory. 
SUGGESTIONS  FROM  A  NEW  YORK  FEEDER. 
Bette)'  more  and  smaller  steers ;  ensilage  a  paying  crop;  is 
the  feeding  cost  figured  too  high t  The manurial  value  of 
foods;  more  oil-meal  suggested;  doesn't  believe  in 
“ chemicals  and  clover;  ”  sow  rye  in  the  corn  crop. 
I  was  much  interested  in  Edwin  Taylor’s  article  in 
The  Rural  of  January  2,  page  2.  His  stables,  if  close 
and  warm,  are  all  right,  and  a  space  of  three  feet  is 
ample  for  steers  of  the  weight  mentioned. 
I  don’t  believe,  however,  that  steers  three  years  old 
and  weighing  1,027  pounds  are  the  best  to  feed;  they 
have  too  much  live  weight  to  be  maintained.  Three 
steers  weighing  1,027  pounds  each  will  have  the  same 
live  weight  and  will  require  as  much  maintenance  food 
as  four  weighing  770  pounds  each,  and  they  would  also 
require  as  much  room.  I  am  satisfied  that  three  steers 
weighing  770  pounds  each  will  gain  more  than  the  three 
larger  ones  and  will  make  a  fair  gain  on  what  would 
be  only  food  sufficient  to  simply  keep  the  larger  steers. 
The  same  stable  in  which  he  is  feeding  13(5,  would  ac¬ 
commodate  200,  and  while  the  200  would  require  no  more 
food  for  maintenance,  they  could  be  made  to  gain  much 
more  weight  than  the  same  number  of  larger  beasts, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  smaller  number  now  being  fed. 
He  is  fully  warranted,  by  my  experience,  in  the  sup¬ 
position  that  “  ensilage  fed  under  cover”  and  in  warm 
stables  is  far  “preferable  to  dry  fodder  fed  under  the 
canopy  ”  or  in  any  other  way.  My  steers  last  winter  fed 
on  ensilage  gained  upwards  of  one-third  more  than 
those  having  dry  food  and  a  larger  grain  ration  ;  and 
while  those  with  dry  fodder  but  little  more  than  came 
out  even,  those  fed  on  ensilage  made  a  good  profit.  Mr. 
Taylor  is  pretty  hard  on  his  steers.  My  ensilage,  grown 
as  a  single  crop  and  on  high-priced  land,  cost  me  less 
than  $1.50  per  ton.  To  charge  $2  per  ton  when  grown 
as  a  second  crop,  and  where  it  is  necessary  to  cultivate 
to  keep  the  weeds  down,  and  where,  as  he  says,  it  costs 
no  more  to  do  this  with  a  crop  than  without,  is  a  little 
unfair.  I  don’t  see  how  it  can  cost  four  cents  per  head 
per  day  for  care,  including  fuel,  oil  and  salt.  This  for 
13(5  head  would  be  $5.44.  It  certainly  can’t  take  over  two 
men.  In  my  barns,  with  wind-mill,  pump  and  tank  to 
furnish  water,  though  -I  pay  five  cents  per  100  pounds 
for  grinding  feed,  it  does  not  cost  over  two  cents  per 
head,  including  drawing  and  scattering  the  manure. 
With  corn  at  40  cents  per  bushel,  which  is  $14.28  per 
ton,  and  bran  at  $12,  it  will  certainly  pay  to  use  more 
of  the  latter  in  the  ration,  for  several  reasons.  With 
corn  meal  added  to  ensilage  containing  considerable 
corn,  the  ration  must  be  balanced  with  something 
more  nitrogenous,  or  a  large  part  of  the  value  of  the 
food  will  be  lost.  It  is  also  a  fact,  as  I  have  proved  by 
careful  experiment,  that  the  steers  can  eat  and  digest 
a  larger  quantity  of  corn  meal  with  than  without  the 
bran,  and  then  the  manure  made  from  the  bran  is 
worth  double  that  from  the  same  amount  of  corn. 
When  feeding  with  the  end  in  view  of  keeping  up  the 
fertility  of  the  soil,  full  weight  should  be  given  to  the 
manurial  value  of  food.  When  this  is  done  and  foods 
are  compared  with  corn  at  a  feeding  value  of  $14.28  per 
ton  (40  cents  per  bushel)  bran  and  oil  meal  will  be 
found  very  desirable  foods.  For  instance,  if  the  feed¬ 
ing  value  of  corn  be  fixed  at  $14.28  per 
ton,  its  manurial  value  when  fed  to  fat¬ 
tening  steers  being  about  $(5,  the  com¬ 
bined  feeding  and  manurial  value  will  be 
about  $20.  Bran  on  this  basis  will  have 
a  feeding  value  of  $11  and  a  manurial 
value  of  $12,  the  combined  value  being 
$23.  Oil  meal  will  be  worth  as  food 
$19.50,  and  its  manurial  worth  will  be 
$20,  making  its  combined  value  nearly 
$40.  As  all  these  are  made  allowing  for 
what  is  taken  by  the  feeding  animal, 
it  will  be  seen  advisable  to  use  largely 
both  bran  and  oil  meal. 
There  is  not  a  doubt  as  to  the  extra 
value  of  manure  made  by  the  use  of  bran 
and  oil  meal  as  foods.  I  have  seen  fields 
of  grain  partly  enriched  with  manure 
made  by  feeding  corn,  and  partly  with 
that  from  bran,  oil  meal  and  cotton¬ 
seed  meal,  where  the  course  of  the 
wagon  across  the  part  corn  manured 
could  be  plainly  tracked  by  the  difference 
in  the  color  and  size  of  the  grain,  owing 
to  the  little  that  had  dropped  from  the 
wagon  as  it  had  gone  along. 
I  cannot  agree  with  The  R.  N.-Y.  that 
Mr.  Taylor  would  get  cheaper  potato 
manure  by  sowing  rye,  millet,  buck¬ 
wheat  or  crimson  clover  to  be  plowed 
in,  and  applying,  in  addition,  from  800 
to  1,000  pounds  of  complete  fertilizer.  It 
would  cost  as  much  in  labor  to  plow  and 
sow  the  crop  to  be  plowed  in  as  it  would 
the  corn  for  ensilage  and  it  would  cost 
nearly  or  quite  as  much  to  plow  in  the 
green  crop  as  to  put  the  corn  into  the  silo 
and  certainly  none  of  these  crops  would 
give  as  many  tons  per  acre  as  the  corn, 
nor  as  much  as  would  remain  of  the  corn 
after  feeding,  so  that  all  he  would  get  by 
this  method  would  be  the  advantage  of 
the  green  manuring  for  the  cost  of  seed 
and  labor  ;  in  addition  to  this  would  be 
the  cost  of  the  fertilizer  which  could 
not  be  less  than  from  $15  to  $20  per  acre. 
Now,  suppose  the  corn  was  grown  for 
the  silo  and  is  fed  to  stock  and  we  get 
only  the  same  amount  of  manure  from 
the  ensilage  as  from  the  green  crop  plowed 
down,  we  would  then  have  the  feeding  value  of  the 
ensilage,  and  if  it  were  combined  with  other  feeding 
stuffs  we  get  their  manurial  value  as  well. 
Suppose  Mr.  Taylor  were  to  feed  the  six  tons  of 
ensilage  grown  per  acre  to  750-pound  steers,  giving  30 
pounds  to  each,  there  would  be  400  days’  food,  and  with 
this  if  he  were  to  feed  400  days’  feed  of  corn,  10  pounds 
per  day,  and  the  same  number  of  feeds  of  bran,  five 
pounds  per  day,  and  the  same  number  of  feeds  of  oil 
meal,  3  %  pounds  per  day,  we  should  then  have  the 
account  about  as  follows,  saying  nothing  of  the  value 
of  the  ensilage  as  manure  or  of  the  green  crops  plowed 
down. 
Days’ 
Pounds 
Amount 
Cost 
Manure 
feed. 
dally. 
fed. 
ton. 
Cost. 
value. 
Corn . 
400* 
10 
4,000—2  tons. 
$14  28 
$28  50 
$12  00 
Bran . 
401) * 
5 
2.000-1  ton. 
12  00 
12  00 
12  00 
Oil  meals . 
400* 
■A% 
1,407 
21  00 
15  25 
14  07 
Total  cost  of  food  and  value  of  manure. . . . 
. .$55  81 
$08  07 
Cost  of  foods  over  value  of  manure . 
..$17  14 
As  this  would  feed  three  steers  which  should  gain 
not  less  than  300  pounds  each,  or  an  aggregate  of  900 
pounds,  there  surely  ought  to  be  some  profit,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  gain  made  by  hogs  following  them. 
Surely  this  is  better  than  to  pay  out  the  $15  or  $20  per 
acre  for  fertilizer — at  least  it  seems  so  to  me.  I  do  not 
object  to  the  use  of  fertilizers,  but  their  use  mortgages 
the  crop,  and  if  as  good  or  better  results  can  be 
obtained  by  feeding  stock,  without  expense  or  at  a 
profit,  do  it  say  I. 
What  I  would  advise  Mr.  Taylor  to  do  would  be  to 
feed  a  larger  number  of  smaller  steers.  Feed  the  same 
