1892 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER.  i83 
3.  Drill  in  the  seed  in  rows  15  inches  apart,  and  drop 
20  seeds  to  each  inch  of  row.  This  will  require  from 
70  to  75  pounds  of  seed  per  acre.  Most  seedsmen,  in 
in  their  catalogues,  recommend  30  pounds  per  acre, 
hut  it  is  not  half  thick  enough. 
4.  Get  the  best  of  seed.  By  this  is  not  meant, 
“new,  fresh  seed  that  is  sure  to  grow,”  but  hot-bed 
seed  that  will  bottom  up  early  and  not  run  to  scallions. 
It  takes  so  much  seed  per  acre  that  many  want  to  get 
cheap  seed.  It  is  a  great  mistake.  When  I  first  com¬ 
menced  to  raise  onion  sets,  nearly  30  years  ago,  I  fell 
into  this  mistake  and  sowed  ordinary  seed.  Every 
dollar  saved  by  buying  cheap  seed  cost  me  a  hundred 
dollars’  loss  in  the  crop,  to  say  nothing  of  the  dis¬ 
couragement  and  the  trial  of  one’s  faith  and  patience. 
5.  Some  people  think  because  you  want  small  onions, 
you  should  sow  late  and  on  poor  land.  It  is  a  great 
mistake.  You  cannot  sow  too  early  ;  and  I  do  not 
think  you  can  make  land  too  rich  early  in  the  spring. 
YTou  may  easily  do  so  during  warm,  moist  weather 
after  the  middle  of  June  and  in  July  and  August.  But 
during  the  cold  weather  in  May  the  only  way  of 
making  land  excessively  rich  would  be  by  an  excessive 
dressing  of  nitrate  of  soda  alone.  You  should  use  the 
nitrate  of  soda  freely,  but  always  use  superphosphate 
freely  also.  Superphosphate  favors  early  maturity 
and  the  formation  of  bulbs,  but  you  need  nitrate  as 
well  to  induce  a  luxuriant  growth  of  roots  and  tops 
and  keep  the  onions  from  prematurely  drying  up. 
Superphosphate  and  ni-  • 
trate  sown  very  early, 
constitute  one  great  se¬ 
cret  of  success  in  growing 
onion  sets. 
Moreton  Farm. 
The  Interview. 
Transplanting  Large  Trees; 
Nursery  Business. 
Mr.  T.  J.  Dwyer  of 
Cornwall,  N.  Y.,  is  not 
only  a  nurseryman  but  a 
landscape  gardener. 
Learning  that  he  had  re¬ 
cently  succeeded  in  trans¬ 
planting  some  large  trees 
needed  for  shade,  a  R.  N.- 
Y.  representative  went  to 
talk  with  him  about  it. 
The  grounds  on  which  the 
trees  are  planted  comprise 
about  12  acres  and  have 
been  purchased  by  Mr.  1). 
Goldschmidt  of  New  York 
city,  who  intends  to  make 
them  a  pleasant  summer 
home.  They  are  beauti¬ 
fully  located,  as  far  jis 
scenery  is  concerned, 
though  naturally  rather 
unattractive,  being  very 
wet  and  muddy.  But 
they  have  the  necessary  slope  for  scientific  drainage. 
“  Do  you  contract  to  put  these  grounds  into  perfect 
order  ?  ” 
“  Certainly.  It  is  quite  a  contract — is  it  not  ?  There 
are  the  large  trees  I  have  recently  moved.  The  ground 
was  frozen  when  it  was  done  and  balls  of  earth  were 
taken  with  the  roots  fully  seven  feet  in  diameter.  The 
owner  will  gain  seven  or  eight  years  in  the  matter  of 
shade.  The  whole  of  the  grounds  are  to  be  thoroughly 
tile- drained,  and  it  will  require  about  7,500  feet  of 
tile  to  do  the  work.  You  see  I  have  a  considerable 
part  of  the  work  already  done.  I  have  dug  wells,  cis¬ 
terns,  etc.,  constructed  a  long  piece  of  road  and  the 
contract  calls  for  the  setting  out  of  600  trees  and 
shrubs,  besides  small  fruits  in  abundance.  This  is  by 
far  the  cheapest  way  for  a  gentleman  to  build  a  sum¬ 
mer  home  and  have  it  properly  stocked.  The  average 
city  man  does  not  know  enough  of  the  business  to  suc¬ 
cessfully  superintend  it,  and  if  he  waits  until  he  gets 
on  his  place,  it  is  a  piecemeal  job,  running  through 
several  years,  which  may  all  be  saved.” 
“  Are  there  any  specially  active  features  of  the  trade 
at  the  present  time  ?  ”  we  asked. 
“  Yes,”  said  Mr.  Dwyer.  “There  is  an  unusually 
active  demand  for  quinces,  Morello  Cherries,  such  as 
Montmorenci,  Early  Richmond,  etc.;  for  nuts  such  as 
English  walnuts  and  filberts,  and  for  currants  and 
blackberries.” 
“  What  are  the  prospects  for  the  sale  of  the  new 
berry,  E.  P.  Roe  ?  ” 
“  I  have  only  50,000  plants — not  enough,  I  fear,  to 
supply  the  demand.  But  it  will  be  widely  disseminated 
and  will  be  tested  in  almost  every  part  of  the  country.” 
We  walked  about  the  propagating  grounds  and 
looked  them  over  carefully.  We  have  never  seen  finer 
or  better  small  fruit  plants — they  were  vigorous,  large 
and  healthy.  The  currants  were  fine  and  a  new 
lot  of  100,000  cuttings,  set  in  the  plat  last  fall  and 
heavily  top-dressed,  were  already  beginning  to  root. 
“  Which  of  the  blackberries  do  you  value  most 
highly  ?  ” 
“  For  family  use,  I  prefer  the  Agawam  to  all  others. 
It  is,  I  think,  the  best  flavored,  but  it  is  not  quite  so 
productive  as  some  of  the  others.  For  market,  the 
Snyder  for  early  and  the  Taylor  for  late  will  do  very 
well.  I  think  well  of  the  Erie,  so  far  as  I  have  had 
opportunity  to  judge.” 
“  What  do  you  think  of  the  Wachusett  Thornless  ?  ” 
“  I  think  it  is  practically  thornless,  but  it  is,  unfor¬ 
tunately,  almost  fruitless  also.  It  is  of  no  use.” 
“  I  see  you  are  growing  asparagus  plants  extensively. 
What  varieties  have  you  ?  ” 
“Conover's  and  Palmetto.  I  am  much  pleased  with 
the  latter.  With  me  it  is  larger — I  should  say  one- 
third  larger  than  Conover’s.” 
“  What  are  your  favorites  in  the  raspberry  line  ?” 
“  We  have  not  the  ideal  red  berry  yet.  In  blacks  I 
prefer,  first,  Souliegan.  with  Ohio  a  good  second.  The 
Shaffer  is,  for  the  family,  probably  the  most  valuable 
of  all.  I  like  Golden  Queen.  With  me  it  is  delicious 
— quite  as  fine  as  Brinckle’s  Orange  and  much  more 
productive.” 
Swimming  Tank  For  Horses. 
The  Breeder  and  Sportsman  of  San  Francisco  gives 
the  picture  shown  at  Fig.  102.  It  is  the  swimming 
tank  on  the  famous  Souther  ranch  in  California  It 
is  built  of  concrete  and  is  about  eight  feet  deep,  30  feet 
wide  and  00  feet  long.  There  are  suitable  pipes  for 
filling  and  emptying  it  and  facilities  for  warming  the 
water.  The  horse  is  taken  in  and  out  from  the  plat¬ 
form  shown  at  one  side.  Salt  water  is  frequently 
used,  as  it  acts  like  a  tonic  on  the  horses.  In  swimming 
the  horse  takes  the  same  or  even  more  violent  exer¬ 
cise  than  he  would  trotting  on  the  track,  while  thex*e 
can  be  no  injury  to  the  feet  or  limbs.  It  has  fre¬ 
quently  happened  that  famous  race  horses  have  been 
taken  lame  during  the  season — so  lame  that  it  was 
necessary  to  give  them  complete  rest  for  fear  of  in¬ 
juring  their  feet  as  they  surely  would  do  if  exercised 
on  a  hard  track.  When  these  horses  went  lame  it  was 
of  course  supposed  that  their  season  was  ended,  for  two 
or  three  weeks  of  idleness  would  surely  unfit  them  for 
rapid  work.  It  was  a  great  surprise  therefore  when 
they  turned  up  in  perfect  training  and  entirely  over 
their  lameness.  At  first  there  was  a  great  mystery 
about  the  treatment,  but  it  was  soon  learned  that  the 
horses  were  made  to  swim  every  day,  thus  giving  them 
all  the  work  they  needed  and  at  the  same  time  pre¬ 
venting  injury  to  the  hoofs  by  striking  on  the  hard 
track.  The  tank  on  the  Souther  ranch  is  the  first 
special  arrangement  of  the  sort  we  have  heard  of,  but 
it  would  seem  to  be  a  necessary  feature  of  all  large 
breeding  establishments. 
Cotton-Seed  Meal  ;  Variations  in 
Quality. 
Cotton-seed  meal  of  good  quality  is  usually  finely 
ground  and  bright  yellow  in  color.  It  is  really  a  waste 
product  from  the  cotton-seed  oil  mills,  and  is  the 
residue  after  the  seed  has  passed  through  three  distinct 
processes  for  securing  the  oil,  viz.:  1,  a  machine  for 
removing  the  lint ;  2,  a  machine  for  the  removal  of  the 
hard,  outer  covering  of  the  seed  or  hull,  and,  3,  the 
extraction  of  the  oil.  Meal  thus  obtained  is  one  of  the 
best  and  cheapest  of  concentrated  feeds,  and  when 
properly  used  is  extremely  valuable  in  preventing 
waste  of  carbonaceous  foods. 
During  the  present  winter  my  attention  has  been 
called  to  a  number  of  lots  of  cotton-seed  meal  that 
proved  unsatisfactory  as  feed,  besides  apparently  injur¬ 
ing  the  health  of  the  animals.  An  examination  of 
samples  of  these  lots  of  meal  has  shown  them  to  be 
what  is  known  as  undecorticated  meal— that  is,  the 
ground  seed  from  which  the  hulls  had  not  been 
removed — 1.  e. ,  process  No.  2  in  the  manufacture  of  the 
oil  had  been  omitted.  The  following  tabulation  shows 
the  average  analyses  of  decorticated  good  and  widecor- 
ticated  poor  meal  as  obtained  in  samples  received  this 
year  : 
Albuminoids.  Fat.  Fiber.  Carbohydrates, 
per  cent.  per  cent,  per  cent.  per  cent. 
Decorticated .  42.38  13.22  5.28  26.0(1 
Undecorticated...  26.50  5.72  17.28  36.66 
Cotton-seed  meal  is  chiefly  valuable  for  its  contents 
of  albuminoids  and  fat.  The  good  or  decorticated 
meal  contains  over  60  per  cent  more  albuminoids,  and 
more  than  double  the  amount  of  fat  contained  in  the 
poor  or  undecorticated  meal,  while  the  latter  contains 
three  times  as  much  crude  fiber,  the  least  valuable  of 
all  the  food  compounds,  as  the  former.  The  presence 
of  the  hulls,  aside  from  their  low  feeding  value,  has 
often  been  found  injurious,  especially  in  the  feeding  of 
dairy  cows,  though  recent  experiments  have  shown 
that  hulls  may  be  fed  without  injury  under  proper 
conditions.  It  is  therefore 
a  difficult  matter  to  esti¬ 
mate  with  any  degree  of 
accuracy  the  actual  differ¬ 
ence  in  the  feeding  value 
of  the  two  classes  of 
meal.  On  a  commercial 
basis,  however,  assuming 
the  same  value  for  the 
different  classes  of  com¬ 
pounds  in  the  two  meals, 
the  decorticated  or  good 
quality  meal  would  "be 
worth  about  $13  per  ton 
more  than  the  other. 
T  h  e  composition  o  f 
these  two  classes  of  cot¬ 
ton-seed  meal  is  also  im¬ 
portant  when  studied 
from  the  standpoint  of 
the  fertilizing  ingredients 
furnished.  Meal  slightly 
damaged  and  unfit  for 
feeding  is  often  sold  as 
a  fertilizer,  and  frequently 
it  is  one  of  our  cheap¬ 
est  sources  of  nitrogen, 
which  element  is  always 
quite  as  good  agricultur¬ 
ally  as  when  derived  from 
the  best  organic  sources. 
The  average  content  of 
nitrogen,  phosphoric  acid 
and  potash  in  the  two  classes  of  meal  is  shown  in  the 
following  tabulation  : 
Nitrogen.  Phosphoric  acid.  Potash. 
Per  cent.  Per  cent.  Per  cent. 
Decorticated  meal .  6.78  3.12  1.77 
Undecorticated  meal.  ..  4.24  1.76  1.23 
Assuming  that  the  fertilizing  ingredients  in  the  un¬ 
decorticated  meal  are  as  available  as  plant  food  as  in 
the  decorticated,  the  former  is  worth  $10  per  ton  less 
than  the  latter,  a  matter  of  considerable  importance, 
when,  as  was  the  case  in  the  lots  mentioned,  the  sell¬ 
ing  price  per  ton  was  practically  identical.  It  should 
be  said,  however,  that  the  dealers  claimed  to  be  un¬ 
aware  of  the  differences  that  existed  in  the  quality  of 
the  different  lots,  though  there  was  a  noticeable  dif¬ 
ference  in  their  appearance,  the  undecorticated  meal 
being  darker  in  color.  The  color  of  the  meal  is  a  fair 
guide  as  to  its  feeding  quality,  the  bright,  yellow  meal 
being  usually  free  from  hulls.  It  may,  however,  not 
be  a  guide  as  to  the  fertilizing  value,  since  damaged 
meal  though  free  from  hulls  and  containing  a  full 
amount  of  fertilizing  elements,  is  frequently  dark  in 
color. 
The  following  simple  and  sure  method  of  determin¬ 
ing  to  which  class  samples  may  belong  will,  I  think, 
be  of  value  both  to  farmers  and  dealers,  since  it  will 
enable  the  former  to  detect  the  hulls,  and  the  latter  to 
guarantee  the  quality. 
Take  a  half  ounce  of  the  meal,  place  it  in  an  ordinary 
water  tumbler,  fill  the  tumbler  two-thirds  full  of 
water,  stir,  and  let  the  material  settle.  If  the  meal 
contains  pieces  of  the  hulls,  they  will  settle  first  and 
cover  the  bottom  of  the  tumbler  with  a  black  residue  ; 
if  the  meal  is  of  good  quality  few  if  any  black  specks 
of  hull  will  be  noticed  on  the  bottom.  This  method  is 
capable  of  execution  by  any  one,  and  will  indicate  at 
once  whether  the  meal  can  be  classed  as  decorticated 
or  undecorticated.  [prof.]  e.  b.  yoorhees. 
Swimming  Tank  for  Horses  on  the  Souther  Ranch.  Fig.  102. 
