VOL.  LI.  No.  2225 
NEW  YORK,  SEPTEMBER  17,  1892. 
PRICE,  FIVE  CENTS. 
$2.00  PER  YEAR. 
“  Intensive  ”  Farming  With  «•  Ex¬ 
tensive  ”  Profit. 
A  LITTLE  FARM  VERY  WELL  TILLED. 
A  Great  Show  of  Berry  Pickers. 
Much  has  been  written  and  said  on  “  intensive  ”  and 
“  extensive  ”  farming-,  and  the  advocates  of  each  have 
grown  warm  in  defense  of  their  favorite  system. 
Doubtless  location,  land  values  and  transportation 
facilities  must  be  largely  instrumental  in  deciding  the 
question  of  which  is  the  better  method  and  it  is  quite 
to  grass,  or  mainly  so.  The  house,  grounds  and  lawns 
take  up  another  large  patch,  so  that  a  prudent  esti¬ 
mate  of  the  amount  of  land  under  cultivation,  is  be¬ 
tween  28  and  30  acres.  The  residence  is  delightfully 
situated  and  the  land  is  rolling,  a  very  large  part  of 
it  being  visible  from  almost  any  knoll  on  the  place, 
It  is  a  gravelly  loam,  clayey  in  places,  sometimes  a 
little  stony,  but  very  responsive  to  the  arts  of  the 
cultivator.  Mr.  Taber  has  an  able  manager  in  the 
person  of  bis  son,  who  does  not  propose  to  leave  the 
farm.  Three  horses  are  kept  on  the  place  and  two 
is  not  a  large  yielder.  In  favorable  seasons  the  Cres¬ 
cent  is  still  a  productive  variety.” 
“How  many  crops  do  you  pick  before  you  plow  them 
under  ?  ” 
“  Generally  two.  But  I  have  some  rows  from  which 
I  have  picked  a  third  crop  this  season  and  which  did 
very  well.” 
“  When  do  you  plant  ?  ” 
“In  the  spring — I  have  never  been  able  to  make 
summer  planting  very  profitable.  I  plant  as  early  as 
practicable,  in  rows  four  feet  apart.  At  the  first  hoe- 
safe  to  say  that  these  varying  environments  may  make 
either  one  or  the  other  more  desirable. 
A  Rural  representative  recently  visited  Lakeview 
Fruit  Farm,  the  home  of  Mr.  Walter  F.  Taber.  This 
place  illustrates  the  intensive  style  of  farming.  The 
farm  is  very  pleasantly  located  just  outside  the  cor¬ 
porate  limits  of  the  city  of  Poughkeepsie.  It  contains 
about  45  acres  in  all,  but  10  are  cut  off  from  the  re¬ 
mainder  by  a  railway  running  a  large  part  of  the  way 
through  a  cut.  This  makes  it  an  inconvenient  piece 
of  land  for  fruit  culture,  and  it  is  consequently  given  up 
cows,  dairying  not  being  a  feature  of  his  farming.  Both 
cows  and  horses  are  fed  freely  on  ensilage,  but  Mr. 
labor  s  ensilage  is  always  sweet  and  sound,  being  the 
stalks  of  sweet  corn,  cut  after  the  roasting  ears  have 
been  pulled.  He  thus  early  learned  the  lesson  that 
corn  for  the  silo  should  be  well  matured. 
“  What  is  your  principal  crop?”  said  The  Rural. 
“  Strawberries.  1  have  about  five  acres  under  them.” 
“  What  varieties  do  you  grow  ?  ” 
“  Bubach  and  Jessie  head  the  list.  I  also  grow 
Crescent  and  Sharpless  and  some  Gandy.  Sharpless 
ing,  I  clip  off  all  the  blossoms.  I  do  not  want  a  spring- 
set  plant  to  bear  any  berries.  I  keep  the  cultivator 
going,  allowing  the  plants  to  form  matted  rows.  I 
find  them  more  productive  in  this  way  than  in  any 
other  I  have  tried.” 
“  Do  you  test  the  newer  varieties  ?  ” 
“  Oh,  yes.  I  have  a  large  number  of  them  in  the 
trial  bed.  Some  of  them  are  very  promising.” 
“  What  other  crops  do  you  grow  ?  ” 
‘  ‘  The  list  is  quite  a  varied  one.  I  have  about  two  acres 
of  blackcaps,  a  small  lot  of  red  raspberries  in  bearing. 
