1892 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER. 
on  the  farm  each  year  as  I  haul  from  the  towns.  Now 
had  I  better  abandon  the  hauling-  and  use  greater 
quantities  of  commercial  fertilizers;  or  continue  haul¬ 
ing-  while  I  can  get  the  manure  for  nothing,  and  use 
commercial  fertilizers  where  the  home-made  supply  is 
short  ?  The  manure  I  get  from  the  towns  is  variable 
in  quality,  but  it  is  the  cream  of  the  rich  bottom 
farms  surrounding  these  towns. 
My  crops  in  a  three-year  rotation  are  corn,  wheat 
and  clover.  I  desire  to  get  40  bushels  of  wheat  and 
100  bushels  of  corn  per  acre.  Can  I  reach  so  much 
wheat  by  following  corn?  The  wheat  sowing  is 
usually  done  from  the  first  to  the  middle  of  October^ 
for  I  cannot  get  the  corn  out  of  the  way  for  sowing 
any  earlier.  On  my  clay  land  corn  will  not  ripen  as 
early  as  on  the  bottoms.  JOHN  m.  JAMISON. 
Ross  County,  Ohio. 
N.-Y. — We  invite  the  attention  of  our  readers 
to  this  problem.  It  is  a  good  one  and  needs  discussion 
because  many  farmers  in  different  parts  of  the  coun¬ 
try  are  in  the  same  situation.  The  scheme  outlined 
in  Chemicals  and  Clover  is  fitted  most  especially  to  a 
section  where  potatoes  or  some  other  large  money  crop 
can  be  grown  and  sold  to  good  advantage.  In  your 
rotation  with  corn  and  grass  fed  to  live  stock  and 
wheat  and  stock  and  their  products  sold,  it  certainly 
will  not  pay  to  use  such  heavy  doses  of  fertilizers  as 
the  fertilizer  farmers  use.  Your  problem  is  to  grow 
the  heaviest  possible  crops  of  wheat  and  the  largest 
weight  of  hay  and  corn,  and  to  feed  the  latter  to  the 
best  animals  that  can  be  bred.  Improvement  in  the 
live  stock  ought  to  go  ahead  even  of  improvement  in 
the  soil.  For  our  own  part,  under  such  circum¬ 
stances,  we  should  haul  all  the  stable  manure  we 
could  get  for  the  hauling  and  use  it  on  the  sod  for 
corn  and  on  pastures.  We  should  experiment 
with  high-grade  fertilizers  on  the  wheat,  using  from 
200  pounds  up  per  acre  and  carefully  note  the  results 
for  a  series  of  years.  Our  belief  is  that  fertilizers  on 
the  wheat  will  pay  even  with  all  the  stable  manure 
you  can  get,  but  the  problem  is  whether  it  will  pay 
you  to  buy  nitrogen  in  large  quantities.  The  clover 
ought  to  supply  almost  enough  nitrogen  for  the  crops 
you  raise  and  if  you  can  mjke  the  wheat  prove 
that  a  mixture  low  in  nitrogen  and  high  in  potash  and 
phosphoric  acid  is  as  good  for  it  as  one  higher  in 
nitrogen,  you  can  save  a  large  part  of  the  cost  of  the 
fertilizers.  But  make  a  fair  comparison.  Use  the  high- 
grade  fertilizer  rich  in  nitrogen  as  the  standard  and 
test  it  with  bone  and  potash  and  other  mixtures. 
Don’t  take  a  single  year’s  experience,  but  watch  the 
results  all  through  the  rotation.  When  you  have  to 
pay  $1  a  load  for  the  manure,  strike  and  begin  to  buy 
fertilizers  instead  of  grain. 
[Every  query  must  be  accompanied  by  the  name  and  address  of  the 
writer  to  Insure  attention.  Before  asking  a  question,  please  see  If  It  Is 
not  answered  In  our  advertising  columns.  Ask  only  a  few  questions 
at  one  time  l’ut  questions  on  a  separate  piece  of  paper.] 
BALL  BEARINGS  ON  FARM  IMPLEMENTS. 
The  R.  N.-Y.  has  had  considerable  to  say  about  the 
ball-bearing  axles  on  the  new  trotting  sulkies.  Much 
stress  has  been  laid  on  the  rubber  tires  with  which 
these  sulkies  are  fitted,  but  the  best  judges  agree  that 
the  increased  speed  is  due  more  to  the  lessened  fric¬ 
tion  at  the  hub.  Instead  of  presenting  a  smooth  and 
rigid  surface  to  the  axle  the  ball-bearing  hubs  are 
fitted  with  small  steel  balls  which  revolve  as  they  pass 
around  the  axle  and  thus  prevent  most  of  the  friction. 
This  device  is  so  successful  on  these  light  sulkies  that 
Robert  Bonner  estimates  that  it  is  worth  four  to  five 
seconds  on  the  record  of  almost  any  trotting  horse  in 
the  country.  Instead  of  buying  Nancy  Hanks,  he  will 
buy  a  ball-bearing  sulky  and  drive  Sunol  in  front  of  it 
for  a  new  record.  But  if  this  lessens  the  friction  and 
draft  on  sulkies,  why  is  it  not  also  desirable  on  farm 
implements  ?  There,  if  anywhere,  should  draft  be 
saved.  We  have  written  to  a  number  of  implement 
makers  asking  if  these  ball  bearings  are  in  use  on  farm 
implements  and  whether  there  is  any  prospect  of  their 
being  largely  used  in  the  future.  Here  are  the  replies  : 
We  do  not  know  of  any  implements  on  which  ball 
bearings  on  axles  would  be  likely  to  be  used,  for  the 
reason  that  most  implements  with  which  we  have  any 
intimate  acquaintance  are  now  of  a  draft  light  enough 
to  answer  all  practical  purposes,  so  that  they  are  easily 
handled  by  either  teams  or  steam  power.  On  machines 
driven  by  steam  power  there  is  usually  a  surplus  of 
power,  and  this  matter  would  not  cut  much  of  a 
figure  there.  keystone  manufacturing  co. 
In'  our  opinion  ball  bearings  applied  to  implements 
in  such  a  way  as  to  lessen  the  draft  would  be  a  very 
excellent  improvement.  A  number  of  manufacturers 
have  already  adopted  the  ball  bearings.  This  is  es' 
pecially  so  of  disc  harrows.  In  a  general  way,  almost 
any  implement  that  has  a  rotary  motion  would  be 
suited  to  the  use  of  ball  bearing.  The  only  question 
is  whether  the  improvement  would  not  cost  more  than 
the  manufacturer  could  obtain  from  the  purchaser. 
What  buyers  want  in  these  times  is  something  cheap. 
The  next  consideration  is  quality,  n.  s.  Morgan  &  co. 
The  matter  of  ball  bearings  has  never  been  under 
consideration  by  us.  It  must  be  remembered  that 
bicycles  and  trotting  sulkies  are  high-cost  goods  as 
compared  with  the  usual  run  of  agricultural  ma¬ 
chinery.  We  do  not  anticipate  any  immediate  adop¬ 
tion  of  ball  bearings  and  should  expect  to  see  them  in 
other  grades  of  machinery  first.  We  do  not  know 
what  would  be  best  suited  to  the  change.  In  con¬ 
nection  with  horses  the  mowing  machine  would  be  the 
first  to  be  considered.  As  we  are  not  now  builders  of 
mowing  machines  we  do  not  consider  ourselves  in  a 
position  to  discuss  the  application  of  ball  bearings  to 
this  machine  or  at  what  point  in  it  ball  bearings  could 
be  applied.  We  question,  however,  the  saving  if  ap¬ 
plied  at  the  main  wheels.  Has  the  ratio  of  saving  yet 
been  decided  in  the  trotting  sulky  as  between  ball 
bearings  and  the  pneumatic  tire?  Certainly  it  is  not 
all  due  to  the  ball  bearings.  ames  plow  co. 
The  ball-bearing  axle  is  nothing  new  in  the  agricul¬ 
tural  line,  as  we  have  used  it  for  a  great  many  years 
for  baggage  barrows  and  other  tools.  In  certain 
places  it  is  very  good,  but  where  there  is  a  liability 
of  dirt  getting  inside  it  does  not  work  as  well. 
CUTAWAY  HARROW  CO. 
We  certainly  believe  that  it  is  desirable  that  farm 
implement  machinery  should  be  of  easy  draft  like 
trotting  sulkies  and  buggies,  nevertheless  at  the  pres¬ 
ent  prices  we  cannot  see  how  ball-bearings  can  be 
used  to  any  extent.  It  is  possible  that  they  might  be 
employed  on  fast  moving  parts  such  as  the  pitman 
connection  which  drives  the  knives  on  reapers,  mowers 
and  binders,  and  possibly  in  a  few  other  places.  J.  S. 
Corbin,  now  of  Prescott,  Ont.,  obtained  a  patent  on  a 
combined  harrow  and  seeder,  dated  November  18, 
1884.  This  harrow  had  ball-bearings  and  was  strongly 
advocated  at  the  time,  but  I  believe  he  has  since  come 
out  with  a  statement  saying  that  the  thing  is  not 
practical,  probably  on  account  of  the  expense. 
THE  JOHNSTON  HARVESTER  CO. 
The  Opinion  of  an  Expert. 
Knowing  that  Prof.  Sweet  of  the  Straight  ldne 
Engine  Company,  who,  as  all  acknowledge,  is  one 
of  the  best  mechanical  experts,  could  answer  the  above 
questions  more  intelligently  than  ourselves,  we  asked 
him  for  his  views  and  send  a  copy. 
KEMP  &  BURPEE  MFG.  CO. 
Ball  bearings  are  successful  only  when  the  balls  themselves  are  of 
the  highest  quality  and  the  shells  and  axles  are  of  the  best  steel 
hardened  and  ground  to  the  highest  perfection.  The  limit  of  error  In 
the  best  does  not  vary  more  than  one  quarter  of  one-thousandth  of  an 
Inch,  or  one-fourth  of  the  thickness  of  tissue  paper.  Such  perfection 
Is  very  costly,  and  when  it  Is  necessary  the  least  dirt  destroys  the 
whole  gain,  for  If  the  balls  be  stopped  by  any  Impediment  they  are 
very  Boon  ruined.  Such  accurate  work  is  not  likely  to  be  properly  pro¬ 
tected  or  properly  cared  for  In  farm  machinery.  Hence  It  Is  question¬ 
able  whether  the  failures  would  not  more  than  overbalance  the  advan¬ 
tages;  besides  In  the  cost  of  drawing  a  load,  a  part  is  friction  and  a 
partis  overcoming  the  ground  resistance.  The  poorer  the  road  the 
greater  is  the  ground  resistance,  and  this  has  a  great  bearing  on  the 
percentage  of  advantage;  for,  supposing  that.  In  the  case  of  a  trotting 
sulky,  the  friction  is  half  the  resistance  and  the  ground  resistance  the 
other  half.  Now  If  we  reduce  the  friction  one-half  the  power  re¬ 
quired  to  draw  the  sulky  would  be  reduced  one-quarter  or  25  per  cent, 
whereas  If  in  drawing  a  lumber  wagon,  the  friction  Is  10  per  cent  and 
the  ground  resistance  90  per  cent — which  on  a  farm  and  farm  road  Is 
about  what  it  amounts  to— then  by  reducing  the  friction  one  half  we 
have  reduced  the  actual  power  required  only  live  per  cent.  The  time 
has  not  come  when  it  will  pay.  It  will  be  an  Infinitely  better  Investment 
to  use  the  same  money  to  put  wide  tires  on  the  wheels  and  cut  off  the 
forward  axles  so  as  to  bring  the  forward  wheels  the  width  of  the  tires 
nearer  together  than  the  hind  ones.  I  have  just  been  over  a  dirt  road 
where  100  tons  of  limestone  are  drawn  every  day,  and  the  ruts  were 
horrible  when  only  common  wagons  were  used.  The  road  is  now 
splendid,  all  owing  to  the  use  of  half  the  number  of  wagons  built  as 
above  described,  while  the  ball  bearings  could  at  the  best  reduce  the 
power  required  to  draw  farm  wagons  only  from  five  to  ten  per  cent. 
The  wide  tires  and  short  axle  wagons  would  reduce  the  cost  of  haul¬ 
ing  on  the  farm  roads  40  to  50  per  cent,  and  the  cost  of  the  changing  to 
ball  bearings  would  equal  the  cost  of  the  new  wheels  and  front  or 
back  axles.  e.  sweet. 
Cows  Opposed  to  Brewers’  Grains. 
“Jersey,”  Suffolk  County,  Long  Island. — My  J  ersey  cows 
don’t  like  brewers’  grains,  and  have  to  be  nearly 
starved  into  eating  them.  The  only  directions  I  have 
or  can  find  come  from  the  manufacturer,  who  says  for 
milch  cows  “  give  eight  pounds  per  day,  soaked  in 
warm  water,  mixed  with  two  pounds  of  corn  meal.” 
This  surely  cannot  be  a  complete  ration.  What  else 
should  I  give,  and  how  can  I  best  get  them  to  eat  it  ? 
They  cost  me  $20  per  ton  delivered.  I  can  get  bran 
for  $19  ;  are  the  brewers’  grains  cheaper  ?  If  so,  how 
much  ? 
Ans. — We  do  not  remember  to  have  heard  of  any 
other  case  where  cows  declined  to  eat  dried  brewers’ 
grains.  As  a  rule,  they  are  very  fond  of  them.  Then 
again,  cows  are  not  as  dainty  as  are  many  other  domes¬ 
74 1 
tic  animals,  and  this  makes  the  dislike  they  show  for 
this  excellent  dairy  food  all  the  more  unaccountable. 
The  ration  you  are  feeding — eight  pounds  of  brewers’ 
grains  to  two  pounds  of  corn  meal — is  a  very  good  one. 
The  digestible  nutrients  in  100  pounds  of  brewers’ 
grains  are,  albuminoids  14.81,  carbohydrates  39.73,  fat 
5.37  ;  in  corn  meal,  albuminoids  7.27,  carbohydrates 
03.40,  fat  3.29.  A  mixture  of  100  pounds  of  the  grains 
and  25  pounds  of  meal  would  give  us  the  following  : 
albuminoids  16.63,  carbohydrates  55  58,  fat  6. 19.  Mul¬ 
tiplying  the  fat  by  2.5  and  adding  the  product  to  the 
carbohydrates,  we  have  a  total  of  71  06  to  16.63  of 
albuminoids.  The  ratio  should  be  about  1  to  5  or  5%, 
and,  if  you  should  deduct  a  half  pound  from  the 
grains  and  add  a  half  pound  to  the  meal,  it  would  not 
be  far  out  of  the  way.  If  you  fed  corn  stalks,  the 
ration  as  first  formulated  would  be  very  good.  If  you 
were  feeding  good  clover  hay,  which  is  in  itself  a 
balanced  ration ,  the  change  alluded  to  would  im  prove  it. 
The  comparative  feeding  values  of  the  feeds  you  use  are 
as  follows  :  wheat  bran  $1  per  100  pounds;  kiln-dried 
brewers’  grains,  $1.23  ;  corn  meal,  $1.03  ;  cotton-seed 
meal,  $2  25.  It  may  help  you  to  know  the  digestible 
nutrients  in  100  pounds  of  corn  stalks  are,  albuminoids 
2  41,  carbohydrates  34.48,  fat  0.47.  Value  per  100 
pounds,  43  cents.  Try  salting  the  grains  lightly  or 
scattering  bran  and  corn  meal  over  them. 
Composition  of  Potatoes  and  Turnips. 
LI.  S.,  Nichols,  Conn. — Which  exhausts  the  soil  more, 
100  bushels  of  potatoes  or  a  like  quantity  of  turnips  ? 
What  does  each  take  from  the  ground  ? 
Ans. — Assuming  that  the  tops  of  the  potatoes  were 
all  returned  to  the  soil,  100  bushels  of  average  com¬ 
position  would  contain  about  21  pounds  of  nitrogen, 
35  of  potash  and  10  of  phosphoric  acid.  One  hundred 
bushels  of  turnips  would  contain  about  11  pounds  of 
nitrogen,  20  of  potash  and  5%  of  phosphoric  acid.  The 
turnip  tops,  if  cut  and  fed,  would  also  contain  these 
substances  in  amount  depending  upon  the  size  of  the 
crop  A  turnip  crop  of  100  bushels,  however,  is  a  very 
small  one  per  acre.  Our  Long  Island  farmers  have 
grown  1,200  to  1,800  bushels  per  acre  on  chemical  fer¬ 
tilizers  alone. 
Another  Big  Dairy  Fraud. 
II.  R.,  Pottsville,  la. — What  about  the  following, 
which  appeared  in  the  Drovers’  Journal  as  a  part  of  a 
report  of  the  South  Australia  Dairymen’s  Association  ? 
I  claim  that  one  gallon  of  cream  churned  with  black 
pepsin,  which  is  perfectly  harmless,  will  produce  more 
than  twice  as  much  butter  as  when  churned  without 
black  pepsin.  I  also  claim  that  the  butter  is  healthier, 
tastes  better,  looks  better,  keeps  better  and  sells  bet¬ 
ter  than  butter  churned  in  the  ordinary  way  ;  and  I 
ask  this  association  to  appoint  a  committee,  one  mem¬ 
ber  of  which  shall  be  an  otticial  chemist,  to  make  both 
practical  and  analytic  tests  with  not  less  than  20  cows, 
and  for  not  less  than  30  days,  and  that  the  results  of 
said  experiments  be  made  known  to  the  world,  the 
committee  to  report  at  the  August  meeting. 
The  “report”  then  states  that  the  experiment 
proved  a  great  success. 
Ans. — It  is  a  big  humbug,  and  is  being  denounced 
in  all  the  leading  dairy  papers. 
Using  Manure  for  Corn. 
II.  F.  F.,  Waterford,  0. — I  have  a  Timothy  and  Red 
Top  sod  field  which  I  wish  to  plant  to  corn  next  sea¬ 
son.  When  is  the  better  time  to  manure  it — before  or 
after  plowing  ? 
Ans. — We  should  broadcast  the  manure  on  the  sod 
and  plow  it  in  ;  then  harrow  and  fine  the  surface  and 
plant.  This  is  the  practice  of  the  majority  of  farmers, 
and  is  generally  considered  more  satisfactory,  all  things 
considered,  then  spreading  on  plowed  ground  and  har¬ 
rowing  in  the  surface.  If  on  level  ground,  we  would 
as  soon  haul  in  summer  or  now  as  any  other  time. 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
A.  W.  P.,  Coulterville,  111. — Thomas  Meehan  &  Sons, 
Germantown,  Pa.,  will  sell  seeds  of  California  Privet. 
W.  II.  B.,  North  Ogden,  U. — We  think  there  is  but 
little  danger  of  a  surfeit  of  prunes.  They  are  salable 
either  fresh  or  dried,  and,  in  the  latter  form,  the  de¬ 
mand  is  practically  unlimited.  It  seems  safe  to  go 
ahead  and  set  them  out. 
C.  R.  W.,  Miller  Corners,  N.  F.-We  doubt  if  Alfalfa 
will  prove  successful  as  far  north  as  Rochester.  It  is 
a  good  clover  and  makes  excellent  food  for  cows — bet¬ 
ter  for  that  than  for  a  green  manure.  It  thrives  best  in 
hot,  dry  sections  like  Colorado  or  New  Mexico.  It  is  sown 
in  the  spring  in  drills  eight  to  ten  inches  apart,  and 
soon  makes  a  rank  growth. 
We  Give  it  Up  — C.  I.  F.,  Waterville,  Mass. — We  can¬ 
not  answer  your  question  :  “Why  are  there  hard 
places  in  sweet  and  sour  apples  making  them  very 
poor  for  cooking  or  eating  ?”  It  is  possible  that  the 
mischief  comes  from  imperfect  nutrition — a  lack  of 
certain  elements  in  the  soil,  but  this  is  only  a  guess 
Can  any  of  our  readers  enlighten  him  ? 
