1892 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
grass  land.  I  spread  manure  and  put  fertilizers  in  the 
hill  for  corn.  When  I  use  no  manure  and  a  large 
quantity  of  fertilizer,  I  put  on  a  part  broadcast.  The 
New  Hampshire  Station  gives  the  following :  For  corn 
and  wheat,  dissolved  bone-black,  325  pounds ;  muriate 
of  potash,  125  ;  sulphate  of  ammonia,  75.  For  ensilage, 
dissolved  bone-black  250  pounds ;  muriate  of  potash, 
200  ;  sulphate  of  ammonia,  50. 
It  will  be  noticed  that  only  three  articles  are  usbd  in 
compounding  these  fertilizers.  Theoretically  it  is 
better  to  use  more  than  one  form  of  nitrogen,  and 
really  we  do,  even  though  we  apply  only  one  in  our 
fertilizer ;  for  there  is,  except  in  the  poorest  soils, 
more  or  less  nitrogen  in  decaying  vegetation,  which 
gradually  becomes  available.  If  a  farmer  plows 
under  clover  or  feeds  rich  foods  to  his  cattle,  he  does 
not  need  to  buy  much  nitrogen.  If  his  soil  is  rich  in 
potash  ,  he  does  not  need  to  buy  much  of  that,  and  so 
with  phosphoric  acid.  A  very  poor  soil  would  need  all 
three  in  full  quantities.  Herein  lies  the  great  advantage 
of  buying  unmixed  chemicals.  A  farmer  can  study  the 
needs  of  his  soil  and  of  his  crops,  and  apply  what  they 
demand.  It  is  easier  to  go  to  the  agent,  buy  a  mixture 
and  apply  it  to  the  soil  without  study  or  thought,  but  if 
the  stations  are  right  it  is  wasteful.  Put  dissolved  bone- 
black  on  a  number  of  rows  or  rods  of  any  crop,  put 
muriate  of  potash  on  an  equal  amount,  then  put  on 
both  mixed,  leaving  unfertilized  spaces  between. 
Then  try  nitrate  of  soda  and  see  what  effect  it  has 
alone  and  in  combination  with  the  other  two.  Then 
as  one  fertilizes  his  crops,  he  will  be  asking  them 
questions,  and  every  year  will  be  learning  how  to 
fertilize  more  economically. 
In  mixing  it  is  well  to  use  scales,  but  after  weighing 
out  25  or  50  pounds,  it  saves  time  to  measure  in  any 
convenient  receptacle.  A  smooth  barn  floor,  a  shovel, 
and  a  coarse  sieve  are  all  the  apparatus  necessary  in 
mixing,  and  the  general  testimony  is  that  it  costs 
about  a  dollar  a  ton  to  mix.  Put  down  a  layer  of  one 
kind  of  material,  then  scatter  another  layer  of  another 
on  this  and  so  on,  but  do  not  make  the  pile  too  large. 
Three  or  four  hundred  pounds  are  enough  to  shovel 
over  at  once.  Lumpy  material  will  need  sifting  and 
the  lumps  should  be  broken.  Dissolved  bone-black 
rots  the  bags,  and  this  often  causes  some  loss. 
The  best  way  to  purchase  chemicals  is  to  make  up  a 
large  club  order  so  as  to  buy  by  the  ton  or  car-load. 
This  insures  the  lowest  prices.  Find  what  dealer  will 
sell  the  best  goods  at  the  best  rates,  and  if  you  get  a 
small  quantity,  it  is  best  to  have  them  come  in  the  car 
with  the  local  agent's  supply.  One  must  pay  cash  for 
chemicals,  and  he  should  be  sure  to  order  early,  especi¬ 
ally  if  the  goods  are  coming  with  the  local  agent’s. 
Orders  for  fertilizers  are  usually  sent  to  the  manu¬ 
facturer  in  January,  so  one  should  plan  early. 
Lamoille  County,  Vt.  j,  w.  newton. 
“The  Cost  of  Life.” 
1  BATCH  OF  SOUTHEKN  FIGURES. 
Hard  Times  for  Mississippi  Farmers. 
Here  are  prices  for  leading  articles  in  Jefferson 
County,  Mississippi  : 
_  ,  _  Cash.  Credit. 
One  barrel  flour .  $5.00  $0  50 
10  pounds  su^ar . 55  ]  "00 
30  pounds  meat  (one  month) .  3.00  3  75 
Suit  clothes .  12.50  lsloo 
Shoes.. .  2.50  3.00 
Dress  for  wife . 70  90 
Medicine,  doctor,  etc.,  from  $35  to  $50. 
Size  of  family,  11.  Nine  persons  out  of  ten  in  this 
county  buy  on  credit,  so  I  give  you  both  cash  and 
credit  prices.  I  raise  cotton,  corn,  oats,  hay,  horses, 
cattle,  sheep  and  hogs,  sweet  and  Irish  potatoes,  poul¬ 
try  and  garden  truck,  also  fruits.  I  buy  none  of  the 
articles  above  named  that  I  raise.  I  buy  all  of  the 
articles  above  priced,  with  the  addition  of  coffee,  ex¬ 
cept  a  small  quantity  of  meat.  With  the  low  price  I 
get  for  everything  I  have  for  sale,  such  as  horses,  cat¬ 
tle,  sheep,  cotton,  etc.,  it  is  about  all  I  can  do  to  pay 
expenses.  I  live  as  close  as  the  bark  on  a  tree,  and 
have  to  be  content  with  four  months’  public  schooling 
for  my  children,  which  amounts  to  almost  nothing. 
Property  of  all  kinds  here  is  comparatively  worthless. 
Treas.  Miss.  State  Alliance.  t.  l.  harden. 
A  60-Mule  Georgia  Farm. 
I  find  that  my  expenses  will  foot  up  somewhere 
close  to  $5,000.  Members  of  family  are  wife  and 
three  children,  from  five  to  seventeen,  and  self.  This 
means  servants,  horses,  the  luxuries  of  our  market, 
and  trips  abroad.  This  is  costly  living  in  a  country 
where  everything  is  cheap  and  where  the  least  exer¬ 
tion  returns  a  fine  dividend.  I  live  on  one  of  my 
farms,  and  have  60  mules  engaged  in  the  cultivation 
of  cotton  ;  for  which  I  receive  two  bales  of  cotton  for 
the  rent  of  the  land  and  $25  for  the  rent  of  the  mule. 
I  suppose  these  tenants,  who  constitute  the  bulk  of 
the  buyers  of  this  country,  are  the  people  whose  ex¬ 
penses  you  wish  to  arrive  at.  Take  a  one-horse  farm 
— generally  30  acres  in  cultivation,  the  family  to  con¬ 
sist  of  man,  woman  and  four  children  ;  a  barrel  of 
flour,  $6  ;  10  pounds  of  sugar,  60  cents  ;  40  pounds  of 
meat  for  one  month,  $3.60  ;  one  suit  of  clothes,  $8  ;  one 
pair  of  shoes,  $1.25  ;  10  yards  cotton  checks,  $1  ;  medi¬ 
cal  attendance  during  the  year,  about  $10. 
Don’t  understand  me  that  the  list  of  articles  men¬ 
tioned  above  constitutes  the  rations  of  the  average 
farmer  of  this  country.  B.  G.  swanson. 
Wife  and  Rural,  Two  Good  Friends 
My  farm  of  350  acres  is  mostly  in  grass.  I  keep 
horses,  cattle,  sheep  and  pigs ;  and  also  some  ducks 
and  geese  and  lots  of  hens.  The  principal  income 
from  the  farm  is  from  milch  cows,  sheep  and  hens. 
The  nearest  market  is  Lynchburg,  18  miles  distant.  I 
obtain  25  cents  per  pound  for  fresh  butter,  by  the  year  ; 
four  cents  per  pound,  live  weight,  for  mutton,  and 
five  cents  per  pound,  live  weight,  for  fat  lambs.  For 
the  past  two  seasons  I  have  received  25  cents  per  pound 
for  wool,  and  from  15  to  20  cents  per  dozen  for  fresh 
eggs.  The  principal  line  of  farming  here  in  Amherst 
Country,  Va.,  is  growing  corn,  wheat  and  tobacco. 
Corn  is  worth  50  cents  per  bushel ;  wheat,  70  cents  ; 
tobacco  from  5  to  15  cents  per  pound. 
Flour  is  worth  from  $3.50  to  $4  per  barrel ;  sugar, 
five  cents  per  pound  ;  bacon,  10  cents  a  pound  ;  a  fair 
suit  of  clothes,  $10  ;  a  pair  of  boots,  from  $2  to  $5  ;  a 
dress,  from  $1  up,  the  price  being  governed  by  the 
amount  of  money  in  one’s  purse.  For  the  past  10 
years  I  have  paid  out,  on  an  average,  $5  per  year 
for  doctor  and  medicine,  this  being  a  very  healthy  sec¬ 
tion.  My  family  consists  of  my  wife,  self  and  two 
children.  Our  food  is  in  variety,  consisting  of  ham 
and  eggs,  hot  rolls,  Irish  or  sweet  potatoes,  butter, 
fruits  of  some  kinds,  and  coffee  or  chocolate  and  milk 
Watch  the  Trap  Mr.  Farmer.  Fig.  260. 
for  breakfast.  A  boiled  dinner  of  bacon  and  cabbage, 
or  snaps,  corn  bread,  potatoes,  butter,  honey,  or  pre¬ 
serves  of  some  kind,  pies,  sweet  milk  and  buttermilk. 
For  supper,  bread  and  butter,  dried  beef,  honey,  fruit 
of  some  kind,  Dutch  cheese,  milk  and  tea.  Everything 
is  grown  here  except  the  coffee,  chocolate  and  tea. 
I  am  from  home  much  of  the  time,  buying  and  sell¬ 
ing  stock.  My  wife  superintends  the  farm  when  I  am 
away.  She  is  a  Southerner,  I’m  a  Northerner,  but  we 
pull  well  together,  “  in  sunshine  and  in  rainy  weather,” 
and  get  along  “  right  smart.” 
One  of  the  best  friends  I  have  to-day  is  The  Rural 
New-Yorker.  It  was  a  weekly  visitor  at  my  father’s 
house  in  my  childhood,  and  I  became  interested  in  its 
many  valuable  instructions.  When  I  commenced 
business  for  myself,  the  paper  was  my  agricultural 
guide.  It  has  assisted  me  in  making  a  success  of  life 
in  Virginia.  8.  r.  harding. 
From  a  Happy  Georgia  Home. 
I  have  a  lot  of  two  acres.  My  house  and  yards 
(front  and  back)  take  up  about  one-third  of  the  lot. 
The  other  two-thirds  I  plant  in  a  garden  vegetables 
and  small  fruits  (strawberries,  raspberries  and  grapes) 
only  for  family  use  and  pleasure.  Of  course  I  have 
some  surplus,  which  I  sell  to  those  living  near  me  who 
have  no  garden.  What  I  sell  will  about  pay  for  the 
cultivation  and  seeding.  I  have  some  200  grape  vines 
(assorted)  Eerckmans,  Brighton,  Catawba,  Concord, 
Delaware,  Duchess,  Ives,  Lady  Washington,  Martha, 
Moore’s  Early,  Salem,  Worden,  Wyoming  Red,  etc. 
All  do  well  here.  Raspberries— both  black  and  red. 
Of  strawberries  I  have  some  2,500  plants — early,  med¬ 
ium  and  late.  For  early,  Hoffman  and  Crescent ; 
medium,  Bubach  and  Sharpless  ;  late,  Gandy  and  Cum- 
65 1 
berland.  I  grew  this  season  berries  that  measured 
2 %  inches  long  and  from  five  to  six  in  circumference. 
These  fancy  berries  I  sold  on  the  Atlanta  market  (to 
dealers)  at  50  cents  per  quart,  while  the  average  price 
was  15  to  17  cents  per  quart.  All  of  my  surplus  I  sold 
at  25  and  35  cents  per  quart.  My  family  consumes  of 
this  fruit  in  season,  from  2%  to  3  gallons  per  day.  I 
gathered  my  first  ripe  berries  on  April  26  and  from 
that  time  to  mid- July.  I  have  also  a  fine  Scuppernong 
vine  covering  about  50  feet  square,  which  is  now  loaded 
with  ripe  fruit.  All  these  things  I  have  to  make  home 
interesting.  My  children  never  have  to  leave  home 
for  fruit,  etc.,  or  to  seek  company.  They  have  all 
they  want  at  home  and  my  yards  are  always  full  of 
neighboring  children  who  like  of  course  to  enjoy  these 
things  with  them.  I  have  eight  in  family — my  wife, 
myself  and  six  children — from  5  to  21  years  old.  My 
grocery  account  will  average  $50  per  month  the  year 
round.  This  includes  the  staple  articles,  with  beef, 
mutton,  chickens,  turkey,  fish  and  oysters  (in  season), 
etc.  I  keep  two  cows  and  buy  no  butter  or  milk.  I 
buy  neither  vegetables  nor  fruit,  having  all  at  home. 
My  medical  attendance  (patent  medicines)  will  not 
average  over  $12.50  per  year.  A  good  barrel  of  flour 
can  be  bought  here  (retail)  at  $6  ;  10  pounds  granu¬ 
lated  sugar,  60  cents  ;  bacon,  10  cents  per  pound  ;  lard, 
10  cents  per  pound  ;  a  fair  suit  of  clothes,  $8  ;  shoes , 
$2  to  $2.50;  worsted  dress  (average  farmer’s  wife),  $2 
to  $5.  G.  D.  HARWELL. 
Cheap  Living  at  Tallahasse,  Fla. 
A  barrel  of  flour,  best  grade,  costs  $6.25  ;  corn  40 
to  50  cents  per  bushel  ;  fresh  .  beef,  8  to  10  cents  per 
pound;  salt  pork,  11  to  15  cents  per  pound;  10  pounds 
of  granulated  sugar,  70  cents.  A  fair  suit  of  clothes 
is  worth  $9  to  $25;  shoes  $1.25  to  $4  per  pair.  Dress 
goods — calico,  ginghams  and  homespun — 5  to  10  cents 
per  yard;  woolen  goods  can  be  had  at  a  small  advance 
on  New  York  prices.  As  to  medical  attendance,  I 
cannot  give  any  general  average,  the  habits  of  people 
are  so  different.  Our  own  average  for  five  years  past 
has  fortunately  been  small — not  over  $5  a  year.  Our 
medicines  have  been  confined  mostly  to  quinine,  50 
cents  a  year;  liver  medicine,  50  cents,  and  not  over  50 
cents  for  all  other  kinds.  We  mostly  take  care  of 
ourselves  and  seldom  call  on  a  doctor  except  in  case 
of  serious  sickness.  Our  family  consists  of  6  persons, 
3  adults  and  3  children,  ages  from  8  to  15  years. 
Our  business  for  several  years  has  been  mostly  dairy¬ 
ing,  selling  milk,  butter,  cream  and  buttermilk  in 
Tallahassie;  and  we  are  now  giving  more  attention  to 
stock  raising,  cattle  and  colts.  From  the  farm  and 
garden  we  supply  ourselves  with  corn,  sweet  potatoes, 
part  of  our  Irish  potatoes  and  onions,  cabbage,  turnips, 
beets,  tomatoes  and  all  other  kinds  of  vegetables,  also 
with  syrup  from  sugar  cane,  fresh  pork,  chickens  and 
eggs.  We  sell  more  or  less  of  all  these  things  in  town. 
Then  we  have  LeConte  pears,  and  ship  several  barrels 
North  every  year,  peaches  and  a  few  oranges  and 
bananas  when  the  season  is  favorable.  I  have  raised 
strawberries  in  abundance,  though  I  am  out  just  now. 
I  intend  to  get  a  fresh  start  this  fall.  I  have  not  been 
so  successful  with  grapes  but  mean  to  try  again,  as 
others  about  here  have  done  well  with  them.  We 
could  raise  our  own  tobacco  if  we  had  any  use  for  it, 
but  we  have  not.  Oui  climate  and  soil  are  proving  to 
be  well  adapted  to  this  crop,  and  as  cotton  falls  in 
price,  more  and  more  farmers  are  planting  it  with 
encouraging  success. 
A  Talk  About  Olive  Oils. 
Not  long  since  The  R.  N.-Y.  expressed  a  doubt  about 
the  feasibility  or  possibility  of  buying  any  pure  olive 
oil  for  culinary  purposes,  owing  to  the  very  general 
adulteration  of  that  product  with  cotton  seed  oil  and 
other  adulterants.  Mr.  Gardiner,  of  Gardiner  &  Dela- 
field,  this  city,  gave  us  a  chance  to  sample  different 
oils. 
“  How  many  gallons  of  so-called  olive  oil  are  im¬ 
ported  to  this  country  annually,”  said  The  Rural. 
“  About  800,000.  Of  this  vast  quantity,  probably 
about  200,000  gallons  are  pure  and  the  remainder  more 
or  less  adulterated.  At  least,  that  is  a  conservative 
estimate.” 
“  Is  not  some  of  the  oil  that  is  pure  when  imported, 
adulterated  after  it  reaches  this  country  ?  ” 
“  I  presume  it  is.” 
“  Well,  then,  if  600,000  gallons  of  adulterated  oil  are 
imported  and  a  part  of  the  200,000  gallons  of  pure  oil 
is  adulterated  after  reaching  here,  is  it  any  wonder 
that  we  find  it  difficult  to  get  pure  oil  !  ” 
“  Certainly  not,  and  I  am  heartily  with  you  in  your 
efforts  to  put  down  the  sale  of  adulterated  goods.  I 
only  insist  that  we  sell  only  pure,  unadulterated  oil. 
Every  invoice  is  tested  by  chemical  analysis  before  it 
is  put  upon  the  market.” 
“  Don’t  you  think  the  consumption  of  oil  would  very 
largely  increase  if  the  genuine  article  were  more  easily 
procured  ?  ” 
“  Without  doubt.  The  Americans,  as  a  rule,  are  not 
