1892 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER. 
235 
makes  the  ground  so  loose  that  the  moisture  escapes 
too  readily.  If  the  ground  were  worked  very  shallow 
— just  deep  enough  to  keep  the  crust  broken  so  that 
the  air  could  get  in  freely,  and  so  that  the  ground 
could  absorb  any  moisture  which  might  fall — wouldn’t 
the  results  be  better  ?  I  have  seen  farmers,  as 
soon  as  the  corn  was  large  enough  so  that  it  would 
not  be  covered,  ridge  it  up  with  the  shovel-plow  in 
high  ridges.  Will  not  the  dry  weather  affect  such 
corn  much  more  than  if  it  were  treated  as  I  have  men¬ 
tioned  ? 
Ans. — We  would  prefer  the  deep  cultivation  before 
the  crop  is  in,  and  shallow  cultivation  thereafter.  A 
corn  plant  a  foot  high  often  has  roots  extending  within 
a  circle  two  feet  in  diameter.  Years  ago,  The  R.  N.-Y. 
“  ridged  up”  a  part  of  a  field  just  before  the  plants 
were  in  silk,  during  a  dry  period.  These  plants  were 
so  injured  that  their  yield  was  greatly  lessened  both 
in  grain  and  stover. 
Holding:  Glass  on  a  Greenhouse. 
D.  F.,  Salem ,  Oregon. — I  am  gardening  to  some  extent 
under  glass.  I  want  to  extend  my  building  this  sea¬ 
son.  I  have  in  use  glass  10  x  12.  I  followed  Peter  Hen¬ 
derson’s  instructions  in  building  as  nearly  as  I  could. 
My  glasses  work  loose  and  the  wind  breaks  a  num¬ 
ber.  What  is  the  best  size  of  glass,  and  why  ?  How 
should  the  glasses  be  fastened  so  that  they  will  not 
slip  down,  and  so  that  the  wind  cannot  throw  them 
out? 
Ans. — In  modern  greenhouses  the  glass  used  is 
14  x  18  as  a  rule,  though  some  use  8x10.  The  larger 
glass  is  considered  preferable,  as  it  gives  more  light. 
In  glazing,  the  bar  is  puttied,  and  the  glass  is  bedded 
in  the  putty,  lapping  it  only  an  eighth  of  an  inch.  The 
small  lap  is  better  than  a  large  one,  as  it  obstructs 
light  less  and  wastes  less  glass.  The  glass  is  fastened 
in  place  by  Van  Reyper’s  glazing  points,  which  you 
will  find  illustrated  in  Henderson’s  catalogue,  page 
148.  They  cost  only  75  cents  per  1,000,  and  do  the 
work  perfectly — better  than  any  other  device.  After 
the  work  is  done,  trim  off  the  protruding  putty  on  the 
under  side. 
Chemicals  or  Tillage  for  the  Corn. 
E.  H.  C.,  Carmel,  Ind. — That  New  Jersey  farming 
experience  with  “chemical  fertilizers ”  is  worthless, 
if  not  vicious,  as  advice  to  Hoosiers.  Our  experiment 
station  tried  commercial  fertilizers  on  its  fertile  land, 
and  couldn’t  get  a  sign  of  a  return.  This  is  true  of 
many  sections  in  the  State  ;  yet  stable  manure  helps 
the  crops  everywhere.  Much  of  our  land  will  not  pro¬ 
duce  more  than  40  or  50  bushels  of  corn  per  acre,  or  15 
bushels  of  wheat.  A  crop  rotation  with  clover  every 
third  year,  is  not  equally  well  suited  to  all  fields  :  A 
burr-oak  bottom  doesn’t  need  it  as  often  as  the  white- 
oak  upland.  This  complicates  the  rotation,  giving  twice 
enough  of  a  corn  acreage  one  year  for  the  team  and  half 
enough  the  next.  But  this  is  not  the  worst :  it  does  not 
finally  give  more  than  an  increase  of  10  bushels  per  acre; 
whereas  we  are  ambitious  to  have  an  increase  of  30 
bushels.  Stable  manure  may  help  a  corn  crop  of  10 
acres  ;  but  on  50  to  70  acres  the  stable  manure  on  the 
average  160-acre  farm  would  only  cover  a  few  knolls. 
The  advice  to  “  save  all  the  manure  you  can”  is  no 
answer  to  our  dilemma.  I  have  a  manure  shed  and 
trade  straw  to  bed  highly  fed  horses,  and  get  all  the 
ashes  I  can  at  the  saw-mill  (about  one  load  a  month), 
and  the  patch  covered  by  it  all  on  a  50-acre  corn-crop 
looks  like  a  tom-tit  on  a  newspaper.  Clover  is 
said  to  be  the  cheapest  manure  a  farmer  can  use.  I 
always  sow  all  of  my  small  grains  to  clover,  even  if  the 
sod  must  be  broken  the  next  spring,  and  I  aim  to  keep 
some  green  thing  on  all  my  land  all  winter  to  look 
after  the  nitrates ;  but  the  land  is  not  improving 
as  fast  as  I  wish.  I  sowed  ammoniated  superphosphate 
on  several  acres  one  year.  It  smelt  so  strong  that  a 
dozen  buzzards  actually  walked  about  the  field,  yet 
the  wheat  was  no  better  on  that  part  of  the  field  than 
on  the  rest,  and  produced  only  about  18  bushels  per 
acre. 
Mr.  Terry  makes  a  success  with  clover,  but  before 
his  clover  craze  he  had  a  manure  craze,  and  hauled  it 
on  every  idle  day  till  the  farm  was  almost  a  hot-bed. 
With  us  the  manure  can’t  be  found.  Now  he  says : 
“Sow  thick  and  mow  twice  to  thicken,”  etc.  Well, 
this  will  bring  a  heavy  crop  of  great  fertilizing  power 
on  land  full  of  manure,  and  a  farm  not  larger  than 
half  a  Hoosiet  corn  field.  His  advice  may  be  good  ; 
I  have  followed  it  and  like  it ;  but  following  it  does 
not  cause  a  rapid  i-ecuperation,  though  with  plenty  of 
manure  it  is  a  marked  success.  I  believe  we  lose  some¬ 
thing  in  tramping  the  ground  when  wet  and  in  feeding 
too  closely.  Now,  will  The  Rural  give  me  a  formula 
for  experimenting  with  commercial  manures  ? 
Ans. — It  does  not  seem  to  us  that  the  land  needs 
much  more  manure  or  chemicals,  except,  perhaps,  pot¬ 
ash,  half  as  much  as  it  needs  extra  tillage.  If  you 
could  plant  and  till  your  crops  as  carefully  and  thor¬ 
oughly  as  the  smaller  farmers  do,  you  would  equal 
them  in  yield  per  acre.  Fertilizers  on  good  land  do 
not  pay,  unless  used  on  potatoes  or  some  other  “water 
crop  ”  that  can  be  sold  for  a  good  cash  price.  On  large 
areas  with  low-priced  corn  it  is  a  question  whether  it 
will  pay  a  farmer  to  buy  nitrogen.  Heavy  crops  of 
clover,  supplemented  with  a  liberal  use  of  potash  and 
phosphoric  acid,  may  be  ample  to  keep  up  the  fertility. 
We  speak  now  of  farming  at  a  distance  from  market 
where  it  is  not  profitable  to  grow  potatoes  or  similar 
cash  crops.  The  remarks  by  Mr.  Lewis  and  Mr.  Gerard 
in  this  issue,  are  helpful.  If  you  want  to  experiment 
with  fertilizers  you  could  use  on  different  acres, 
through  the  field,  200  pounds  of  superphosphate,  200  of 
bone  meal,  and  200  of  basic  slag.  This  will  give  three 
forms  of  phosphoric  acid.  On  other  aci*es  use  200 
pounds  of  sulphate  of  potash  and  200  of  muriate.  On 
others  use  the  potash  and  phosphoric  acid  in  combina¬ 
tion,  say,  the  sulphate  with  the  superphosphate,  and 
the  muriate  with  bone  meal.  You  might  also  use,  as 
an  experiment  only,  one  bag  of  a  complete  fertilizer 
on  another  acre.  The  Michigan  Carbon  Works,  De¬ 
troit,  can  supply  the  goods. 
Reducing-  Mutton  Bones. 
SubscrU>er,  Canada. — Will  it  pay  me  to  buy  mutton 
bones  at  $5  per  ton  ?  Can  I  “reduce”  them  at  home 
by  using  caustic  potash  or  sulphuric  acid,  and  will  a 
large  iron  tank  be  suitable  for  doing  it  ? 
Ans. — I  should  think  it  would  pay  to  buy  bones  from 
a  canning  factory  at  $5  per  ton,  but  they  cannot  be 
economically  reduced  with  caustic  potash  or  sulphuric 
acid  until  after  the  large  part  of  grease  has  been 
taken  out.  The  only  way  really  to  reduce  bones  is  to 
thoroughly  boil  them  or  digest  them  in  a  covered  tank, 
and  if  it  can  be  done  under  steam  pressure  at  60 
pounds,  it  will  not  only  take  out  the  grease,  but  will 
break  up  the  texture  of  the  bones  and  make  it  possible 
to  reduce  them  in  an  ordinary  iron  mill.  Acid  will  not 
take  hold  of  bone  which  contains  grease,  and  while 
potash  will  take  hold  of  it,  it  does  so  by  forming  a 
soap,  but  the  bone  is  not  reduced  materially.  As  to 
the  best  method  for  a  farmer  to  handle  such  bone,  I 
would  say  that  I  do  not  know  of  one  ;  but  I  would 
suggest  that  he  first  boil  the  bones  and  get  all  the 
grease  out  of  them,  and  then  either  take  them  to  some 
mill  and  have  them  ground,  or  compost  them  with 
hard- wood  ashes  or  caustic  potash  for  8  or  12  months, 
keeping  them  moist ;  and  at  the  end  of  that  time  they 
would  probably  be  pretty  well  rotted  and  would  make 
a  very  excellent  fertilizer.  w.  H.  bowkkr. 
Forag-e  for  Four  Cows  on  an  Acre. 
Several  Subscribers. — On  page  130,  P.  II.  Monroe  tells 
of  growing  forage  enough  on  one  acre  “to  feed  four 
cows  a  full  year.”  How  does  he  do  it  ? 
Ans.  Mr.  Monroe  meant  that  he  grew  all  the  fod¬ 
der  or  roughage  of  the  cows’  food.  The  R.  N.-Y.  should 
have  stated  this  fact,  Mr.  Monroe  writes  :  “  I  would 
do  it  with  B.  &  W.  ensilage  corn  planted  in  rich  soil  in 
drills  three  feet  eight  inches  apart  and  nine  inches 
apart  in  the  row.  This  will  give  15,840  plants  on  an 
acre,  which  should  weigh  at  least  five  pounds  to  the 
plant,  or  79,200  pounds  per  acre  when  sufficiently  ma¬ 
tured  to  be  cut  into  the  silo.  Fifty  pounds  per  day  of 
this  silage  make  forage  enough  for  one  of  my  Jersey 
cows — 18,250  pounds  for  a  full  year.  This  amount  of 
forage,  properly  balanced  by  more  nitrogenous  mater¬ 
ial,  as  bran,  oil-meal,  etc.,  gives  splendid  results  in 
milk  and  butter.” 
The  Profits  in  Condensed  Milk 
0.  F.  F.,  Monmouth,  Me. — It  is  contemplated  to  start 
five  milk-condensing  factories  in  this  state.  1.  Tak¬ 
ing  everything  into  consideration,  is  the  outlook  en¬ 
couraging — to  the  milk  producers  or  the  owners  of  the 
factories — for  much  if  any  profit  ?  2.  The  parties  who 
are  instigating  the  enterprise  represent  the  demand 
and  the  profit  to  be  very  large.  If  this  is  the  case, 
why  will  not  the  erection  of  condensing  factories  near 
New  York  city  solve  the  trouble  complained  of  on  the 
first  page  of  The  Rural  for  March  12. 
Ans.  Before  long  we  hope  to  give  a  detailed  account 
of  the  workings  of  a  condensary — one  of  the  largest  in 
the  country.  1.  If  it  were  at  all  likely  that  five  con- 
densaries  were  about  to  be  built  at  once  and  their  pro¬ 
duct  put  on  the  market,  it  might  and  probably  would 
have  a  tendency  to  lower  the  price  of  the  manufac¬ 
tured  product.  But  no  such  condition  is  apt  to  arise. 
Condensaries  are  extensive  affairs,  require  a  year  for 
building,  and  it  will  be  a  part  of  another  before  their 
product  will  go  on  the  market.  They  also  require 
large  capital.  The  milk  producer  who  sells  his  milk 
to  them  does  so  at  a  stipulated  price  and  of  course 
knows  whether  it  will  pay  or  not.  The  demand  for 
condensed  milk  is  constantly  growing  and  it  is  not 
likely  that  the  market  for  it  will  be  glutted.  2.  We 
do  not  think  the  profit  is  very  large,  but  moderately 
so.  We  should  be  very  glad  to  see  two  or  three  con¬ 
densaries  established  in  the  district  from  which  New 
York’s  milk  supply  is  drawn.  It  would  have  a  whole¬ 
some  effect  in  relieving  the  plethora  which  exists 
there,  and  there  would  be  no  difficulty  in  getting  all 
the  milk  needed. 
Miscellaneous. 
The  Bush  Lima  Beans. — G.  E.  K.,  Carey,  Ohio.— -Tt  is 
the  opinion  of  The  R.  N.-Y.  that  the  bush  Limas  or  the 
bush  Sieva,  will  settle  down  to  be  valuable  as  gar¬ 
den  Limas  or  as  preferable  where  poles  are  either 
scarce,  expensive  or  considered  unsightly.  Bush  Limas 
require  no  tying  to  the  poles,  no  setting  of  poles,  which 
is  itself  attended  with  expense.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  bush  Limas  are  liable  to  rest  upon  the  soil  and  to 
consequent  discoloration  or  rot. 
Strawberry  Planting. — L.  M.  S.,  Castletou,  N.  Y. — As 
to  plants  to  set  on  sandy  loam  for  profit  in  the  New 
York  market,  at  present  the  large  kinds  are  the 
favorites,  such,  for  example,  as  Sharpless,  Bubach, 
Shuster’s  Gem,  Wolverton  and  Parker  Earle.  Down¬ 
ing  is  a  magnificent  variety  in  every  way,  and  often 
succeeds  admirably  in  a  sandy  loam.  The  quality 
would  not  be  changed  by  setting  two  kinds  in  alternate 
rows.  It  is  of  course  necessary  to  plant  pistillate  and 
bisexual  kinds  near  each  other. 
Onion  Sets. — J.  O.,  Oswego,  N.  Y. — These  are  gener¬ 
ally  planted  in  rows  about  10  inches  apart  and  two  or 
three  inches  apart  in  the  rows.  A  marker  can  very 
easily  be  contrived  for  marking  the  ground,  which,  it 
must  be  understood,  must  be  very  generously  fertilized 
and  thoroughly  and  compactly  worked.  The  quantity 
of  seed  required  varies  with  the  size  of  the  sets,  from 
six  to  ten  bushels  per  acre.  Their  treatment  after 
setting  out  is  the  same  as  for  other  onions.  Some 
growers  roll  them  after  planting. 
Give  the  Common  Name. — M.  L.  R.,  Address  mislaid. — 
When  our  native  wild  plants  are  advertised  in  seeds¬ 
men's  catalogues  it  would  certainly  be  well  that  their 
common  as  well  as  their  botanical  names  should  be 
given.  The  R.  N.-Y.  has  always  insisted  that  the 
botanical  names  be  given.  Unprincipled  dealers  often 
conceal  the  age  of  their  “  novelties”  by  neglecting  to 
do  so.  For  the  same  reason  the  familiar  name  should 
be  given,  if  there  is  a  familiar  name,  so  that  people 
who  do  not  understand  botanical  names  would  not  be 
deceived. 
What  Fertilizer  to  Use. — G.  P.  F.,  Alba,  Pa. — You 
can  tell  what  fertilizer  your  soil  needs  only  by  experi¬ 
ment.  If,  for  example,  your  land  responds  quickly  to 
bone-black  or  to  acid  phosphate,  you  may  infer  it 
needs  phosphoric  acid;  if  to  unleached  ashes  or  to 
kainit,  or  muriate  or  sulphate  of  potash,  it  needs 
potash  ;  if  to  nitrogenous  fertilizers  like  blood  or 
nitrate  of  soda,  it  needs  nitrogen.  Make  the  several 
combinations  on  small  plots.  It  will  pay  you  to  send 
to  Dr.  H.  P.  Armsby,  State  College,  Center  County,  Pa. 
for  the  reports  of  the  experiment  station.  These  will 
contain  reports  of  all  the  fertilizers  on  the  market. 
E.  T.  P.,  Kumberton,  Pa. — To  make  flaxseed  jelly 
for  calves,  pour  boiling-hot  water  on  the  flaxseed  and 
stir  it  smooth.  Then  let  it  cool.  Henderson’s  Gar¬ 
dening  for  Profit  will  give  you  a  brief  treatise  on 
rhubarb.  Price  $2.  We  know  of  no  book  devoted  to 
the  subject  exclusively.  Portland  cement  is  best  for 
that  cistern  described  on  page  117.  Mix  two  parts  of 
sand  with  one  of  cement. 
W.  W.  C. — Middletown,  N.  J. — In  spraying  for  pear 
leaf  blight  it  is  important  that  the  mixture  should 
come  in  contact  with  both  the  upper  and  under  sides 
of  the  leaves. 
Fertilizer  for  Fruits. — G.  E.  II.,  Ulster  Park,  N.  Y. — 
To  take  the  place  of  stable  manure  on  your  red  rasp¬ 
berries  on  the  part  of  the  field  on  which  uuleached 
ashes  have  been  used,  use  fine  raw  bone  at  the  rate  of 
not  less  than  600  pounds  to  the  acre.  On  the  other 
part  use  both  ashes  and  bone. 
Sweet  Cmrn  Markets. — Several  Subscribers. — Outside 
of  a  small  proportion  of  very  early  corn  which  comes 
from  points  South,  New  York’s  supply  of  sweet  corn 
for  table  use  comes  mainly  from  Long  Island  and  New 
Jersey.  The  neighborhood  of  Hackensack  is  a  great 
producer  of  this  edible,  and  the  growers  there  sell  it 
in  the  market  from  their  own  wagons,  thus  saving 
commission.  Long  Island  corn  is  largely  sold  in  the 
same  manner.  That  which  comes  from  central  and 
southern  New  Jersey  is  generally  shipped  to  commis¬ 
sion  merchants,  and  sold  through  them.  In  cases  of  a 
surplus  in  the  market,  or  of  shipments  of  poor  corn, 
which  occasionally  occur,  the  surplus  is  disposed  of 
at  very  low  rates  to  wagon  boys  who  hawk  it  about  the 
poorer  quarters  of  the  city,  where  anything  green  is 
thought  desirable.  A  walk  through  Mulberry  Street, 
in  that  portion  south  of  Canal  Street,  and  a  scrutiny  of 
the  wares  of  the  green  grocers  there,  will  show  where 
the  poor  vegetables  go.  At  this  season  one  can  see 
boxes  of  tomatoes  from  the  South,  past  the  require¬ 
ments  of  any  decent  market,  malodorous  cabbage  and 
wrinkled  and  sprouted  turnips,  freely  displayed  on 
the  Italian  stands.  An  occasional  box  of  stale  string 
beans  is  also  seen,  while  the  inevitable  onion  and 
garlic  abound.  These  people  are  really  the  scaven¬ 
gers  of  our  markets. 
