774 
Nov.  26 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER. 
oats  and  peas  on  it,  sowing  it  to  Hungarian  grass 
afterward.  I  cut  a  good  crop  of  this  and  then  seeded 
it  to  wheat.” 
J  he  new  barn,  built  since  the  fire,  is  very  conven¬ 
iently  arranged  and  has  a  manure  cellar  where  all  the 
liquids  as  well  as  the  solids  are  saved.  The  manage¬ 
ment  of  Prof.  Sears  proves  him  a  capable  farmer— his 
farm  is  a  paying  one,  though  he  is  able  to  devote  only 
about  half  his  time  to  the  work. 
Prof.  John  B.  Smith,  the  Entomologist  of  the  Agri¬ 
cultural  College  station,  is  doing  some  specially  com¬ 
mendable  work.  An  exhibit  which  he  is  preparing 
for  the  Columbian  Exposition  promises  to  be  the  best 
of  its  class  and  worth  the  most  careful  study.  f. 
CHEMICAL  FERTILIZERS  AND  SAND. 
FATTENING  SOIL  FROM  A  RAG.  A  GARDEN  SPOT  IN 
“  THE  BARRENS.” 
All  the  Bag-  Lacks  is  Bulk. 
PART  i. 
[EDITORIAL  CORRESPONDENCE.] 
Are  you  “  tied  to  a  cow’s  tail  ?  ’  If  you  are,  I  ask 
you  to  study  the  facts  presented  in  this  little  series  of 
articles  to  the  end  that  you  may  have  greater  cause 
for  thanksgiving  for  seeing  a  way  to  cut  yourself 
loose.  “Tied  to  a  cow’s  tail!”  What  does  that 
mean?  It  means  that  you  are  working  hard  and 
faithfully  and  getting  nothing  in  return  for  that 
labor  but  board,  clothes  and  manure!  When  a  man 
feeds  a  lot  of  cows,  buys  and  sells  as  well  as  he  knows 
how,  keeps  things  up  in  good  shape  and  lives  as  well 
as  he  deserves  to,  he  figures  up  at  the  end  of  the  year 
and  finds  that  either  he  keeps  the  cows  or  the  cows 
keep  him.  If,  after  charging  the  cows  for  what  they 
ate,  at  a  fair  market  price,  the  cost  of  hired  help,  in¬ 
terest,  taxes  and  repairs,  and  his  own  labor  at  a  fair 
price,  he  finds  that  he  must  put  a  value  on  the  manure 
in  order  to  come  out  even— much  less  make  a  profit— 
that  man  is  “tied  to  a  cow’s  tail” — a  slave  to  stable 
manure  !  I  put  the  thing  forcibly  because  I  want  you 
this  1  hanksgiving  Day  to  do  a  little  figuring  on  the 
cost  of  keeping  up  the  fertility  of  your  farm.  Unless 
you  can  figure  out  a  clear  profit  on  your  investments 
and  labor  without  counting  the  manure  at  all,  you  are 
“  tied  to  a  cow’s  tail,”  and  there  are  only  two  things 
for  you  to  do — one  is  to  keep  fewer  and  better  cows 
and  thus  save  work  and  feed  ;  the  other  is  to  get  rid 
of  the  cows  and  buy  fertilizers,  and  sell  your  crops 
directly  instead  of  through  the  cows.  To  put  it  in 
another  way:  is  your  cow  a  good  or  a  bad  middleman? 
If  she  makes  you  take  pay  for  your  work  in  manure, 
she  is  a  fraud.  Manure  can’t  be  converted  into  cash 
by  continuing  to  grow  crops  to  keep  on  feeding  such 
cows.  If  your  figures  show  that  she  pays  you  in  man¬ 
ure  instead  of  butter,  she  is  a  poor  middleman  because 
she  changes  your  good  cash  products  into  stuff  that 
has  no  commercial  value  until  you  have  gone  all  over 
the  work  again  and  helped  make  it  into  grain  or 
grass.  Discharge  such  a  middleman  and  either  hire  a 
new  one — in  the  shape  of  a  cow  that  can  get  more  fat 
out  of  her  food — or  deal  in  “  original  packages  ”  and 
leave  live  stock  to  somebody  that  can  do  better  by 
them.  1  he  R.  N.-Y.  has  told  you  how  successful 
dairymen  breed  and  feed  the  fraud  cows  away — I 
want  to  show  you  that  it  is  not  absolutely  necessary  to 
have  the  cows  at  all  if  you  don’t  want  them. 
Good  Soil  Made  Out  of  “Nothing-.” 
Those  who  have  traveled  through  Long  Island 
know  the  “  Barrens.”  This  is  a  strip  of  land  through 
the  center  of  the  island  from  three  to  ten  miles  wide 
and  50  or  60  miles  long,  that  is  actually  too  poor  to 
grow7  weeds.  1  he  soil  is  thin  and  light — pure  sand  in 
many  places.  It  is  covered  by  a  thin,  poor  growth  of 
scrub  oaks  and  dwarf  pines.  All  around  it,  land  has 
been  in  cultivation  for  250  years— thousands  of  farm¬ 
ers’  boys  have  gone  through  it  on  their  way  to  the 
West  in  search  of  new  land  on  which  to  farm.  In 
spite  of  all  this,  these  “  Barrens” — only  an  hour’s  ride 
from  New  York  city— remain  to-day  a  desert  w7ith  only 
a  spot  here  and  there  supporting  a  poor,  stunted  home. 
This  soil  is  not  even  “  abandoned  ;  ”  for  it  never  was 
considered  good  enough  to  build  on  in  the  first  place. 
There  never  was  any  “  cream  ”  on  it  to  skim  off.  Now, 
in  the  midst  of  this  “  scrub  oak  desert  ”  I  found  one  of 
the  most  truly  successful  farmers  I  have  ever  met.  He 
has  never  kept  live  stock  except  such  as  are  needed 
for  work  and  the  family  supply  of  pork,  milk  and 
butter,  and  has  never  bought  stable  manure.  All 
salable  products  have  been  sent  away  from  the  farm 
EDd  nothing  has  gone  back  but  chemical  fertilizers 
and  the  wastes  of  the  crops— that  is,  roots  and  stubble  of 
grain  and  grass,  straw,  the  leaves  of  cauliflower  and 
potato  tops.  Everything  else,  except  what  two  horses, 
cue  cow  and  four  pigs  can  eat,  has  been  sold.  I  left 
the  cars  at  Manor  and  drove  two  miles  or  more  through 
tne  thin  woods.  The  soil  seemed  almost  like  pure 
sand  with  only  a  streak  here  and  there  of  darker, 
heavier  soil.  In  theory  no  worse  soil  could  possibly  be 
selected  for  fertilizer  farming  than  this  light,  leachy 
waste,  because  one  would  say  at  once  that  the  soluble, 
high-grade  fertilizers  would  leach  and  run  away 
through  such  a  soil  at  the  first  rain.  At  first  glance  I 
would  as  soon  expect  to  hold  milk  in  a  fine  sieve  as  to 
expect  soluble  fertilizers  to  stay  in  such  a  soil  until 
the  plants  could  get  at  them.  Yet  on  the  farm  I  am 
about  to  describe  fertilizers  and  nothing  else  have 
changed  the  sieve  into  a  milk  pan— clogged  all  the 
holes  and  at  the  same  time  increased  the  crops  tenfold. 
A  Wonderful  Object  Lesson. 
Mr.  Robinson  Gordon  is  a  man  over  50  years  old. 
He  has  lived  on  his  present  farm  32  years.  His  whole 
life  and  his  father’s  and  grandfather’s  before  him 
have  been  spent  in  the  immediate  neighborhood.  To 
show  how  closely  he  sticks  to  the  farm  and  how  in¬ 
terested  he  is  in  building  up  and  improving  his  soil,  I 
can  say  that  Mr.  Gordon  has  not  been  to  New  York 
for  nearly  25  years,  though  all  his  produce  goes  there 
and  it  is  little  over  50  miles  away.  Here  is  a  man 
who,  without  any  study  of  agricultural  science,  with 
nothing  but  common  sense  and  business  necessity  to 
aid  him,  has  given  more  practical  and  striking  illustra¬ 
tions  of  the  profitable  restoration  of  poor  or  worn  out 
soil  than  all  the  experiment  stations  in  the  country  ! 
The  history  of  this  land  is  simple.  Mr.  Gordon’s 
father  and  grandfather  farmed  with  an  axe.  Their 
money  crop  was  cord  wood.  They  cut  off  the  wood 
and  hauled  it  to  the  north  side  of  the  island  whence  it 
was  sent  on  sailing  vessels  to  the  cities.  A  few  sheep 
browsed  in  the  woods,  providing  some  wool  for  sale. 
Aside  from  wood  and  wool,  which  were  cash  crops, 
the  farmers  expected  to  grow  only  hay  and  grain 
enough  for  their  oxen  and  horses,  and  wheat,  rye  and 
potatoes  enough  for  family  use.  A  few  pigs  and  an 
occasional  beef  provided  meat.  They  would  chop  off 
a  piece  of  ground,  burn  it  over  and  grub  out  a  few 
stumps  and  then  grow  corn  or  rye  for  a  few  years 
until  the  crop  would  not  pay  for  the  labor.  The 
giound  was  then  “  abandoned  ”  and  a  new  piece  chop¬ 
ped  off.  On  fields  well  located,  near  the  house,  fish 
were  used  to  keep  up  a  respectable  yield,  these  fish 
being  hauled  back  from  the  bay  in  the  wagons  that 
carried  the  cord  wood.  I  speak  of  this  to  show  how 
our  ancestors  always  farmed  on  new  land.  Some  of 
their  reported  big  yields  are  explained  when  we  re¬ 
member  that  they  could  afford  to  desert  a  field  at  the 
first  indication  of  failure  and  go  to  a  new  soil  that  had 
never  been  robbed.  Remember  that  Mr.  Gordon  came 
to  a  farm  that  was  worse  than  abandoned.  His  an¬ 
cestors  had  taken  all  there  was  out  of  it  and  thrown 
it  aside  like  a  squeezed  lemon.  He  could  not  buy  stable 
manure  or  fish,  he  could  not  grow  enough  on  his  farm 
to  feed  half  a  dozen  animals,  and  he  knew  nothing 
about  fertilizers.  That  was  the  start— now  for  results. 
(Jobe  Continued.) 
HOW  THE  POULTRY  YARD  IMPROVES. 
Improvement  in  the  poultry  yard  begins  when  the 
owner  begins  to  be  interested.  He  then  begins  to 
gather  and  classify  knowledge  about  the  treatment  of 
poultry.  What  he  has  learned  unconsciously  comes 
back  to  him  as  he  begins  to  get  into  practice,  and  he 
finds  a  multitude  of  hints  in  the  papers,  or  through 
conversation  with  others,  information  everywhere 
waiting  to  be  acquired,  from  which  he  had  never  be¬ 
fore  received  any  benefit,  because  he  was  not  inter¬ 
ested.  Better  than  all,  he  begins  to  learn  from  his 
own  experience.  He  can  teach  himself  better  than 
any  one  else  can,  and  the  amount  he  learns  will  be  in 
proportion  to  his  interest  and  stick-to-it-iveness.  He 
will  probably  begin  at  an  improvement  of  the  quan¬ 
tity  and  quality  of  the  food,  and  will  introduce  regu¬ 
larity  of  feeding  in  order  to  get  more  eggs.  Next  the 
need  of  comfortable  quarters  will  become  apparent. 
After  these  are  secured  he  will  naturally  acquire  the 
habit  of  keeping  clean  houses,  with  plenty  of  white¬ 
wash  inside,  and  attendant  conveniences  and  necessi¬ 
ties,  as  dust  baths,  boxes  of  crushed  oyster  shells,  con¬ 
venient  feeding  boxes  and  nt  sts 
Then  it  may  appear  to  him  that  some  of  the  fowls 
appear  out  of  place  in  their  new  quarters  :  some  look 
old  and  too  fat,  others  are  small  and  scrubby,  many 
are  inveterate  sitters  and  cause  a  great  deal  of  trouble, 
lie  cannot  adjust  the  ration  so  that  some  will  not 
become  too  fat,  while  others  appear  unsatisfied  The 
need  of  uniformity  in  the  flock  becomes  apparent.  He 
also  notices  that  if  he  takes  his  eggs  to  the  right  mar¬ 
ket  he  receives  more  than  the  ordinary  price  for  those 
which  are  large,  clean  and  uniform  in  color.  His  cus¬ 
tomers  are  crowding  him  for  more  eggs  and  he  is  ready 
now  to  look  about  for  a  breed  of  more  prolific  lay¬ 
ers.  Having  obtained  a  stock,  by  buying  fowls  or  eggs 
to  hatch,  of  some  prolific  strain  (for  there  is  a  great 
difference  in  the  number  of  eggs  laid  annually  by 
fowls  of  the  same  breed,  but  coming  from  different 
breeders)  an  improved  method  of  hatching  and  rear- 
ing  chickens  will  next  be  wanted.  Either  hens  care¬ 
fully  confined  and  divided  or  an  incubator,  and  in 
either  case  a  brooder,  will  be  found  to  answer  his  pur¬ 
pose.  But  experience  carried  to  this  point  should  not 
stop  here.  Even  if  a  stock  of  thoroughbred  egg  pro¬ 
ducers  is  obtained,  there  is  a  great  difference  in  birds 
of  the  same  flock.  Some  even  of  non-sitting  breeds 
will  be  inclined  to  sit.  These  should  be  remorselessly 
slaughtered.  Others  while  correct  as  to  shape,  as  to 
feathering  or  to  comb  or  ear  lobes,  will  be  found  to  be 
deficient  in  laying  qualities  and  must  be  culled  out. 
But  there  are  some,  and  the  observing  poultry  man 
can  always  tell  them,  which,  while  correct  as  to  the 
standard,  possess  many  other  good  qualities  as  well. 
They  are  found  to  moult  early  and  quickly.  Their 
combs  shrivel  but  little  during  moulting.  They  are 
bright,  active,  of  a  happy  temperament,  healthy  and 
long-lived.  They  begin  to  lay  in  the  fall  long  before 
the  other  hens,  and  keep  it  up  during  the  winter, 
through  spring  and  the  greater  part  of  the  summer. 
These  should  be  separated  from  the  others,  and  bred 
from  exclusively.  Let  a  large  number  of  pullets  be 
raised,  reserving  the  best  for  breeding.  I  would 
place  such  a  selection  first  in  importance;  then  proper 
food,  buildings  and  market  methods.  A.  d.  Warner. 
AS  TO  THE  CARMAN  GRAPE, 
NOW  BEING  SENT  TO  R.  N.-Y.  SUBSCRIBERS. 
With  Mr.  Hermann  Jaeger  of  Missouri,  the  Carman 
Grape  has  endured  27  degrees  below  zero,  bearing  a 
full  crop  the  following  summer.  With  its  originator, 
Prof.  T.  V.  Munson,  of  Denison,  Texas,  it  has  proved 
hardier  in  bud  than  the  Concord.  With  him  it  ripens 
nearly  with  the  Concord  or  a  little  later.  Its  ripening 
period  in  the  North  is  not  known  as  yet,  the  speci¬ 
mens  at  the  Rural  Grounds  not  having  fruited.  Prof. 
Munson,  who  is  always  conservative  in  his  statements, 
says  that  it  will  “remain  in  perfect  condition  on  the 
vine  for  a  month  or  more,  improving  all  the  time, 
while  the  Concord  soon  deteriorates  after  ripening.” 
In  cluster  the  Carman  averages  larger  than  the  Con¬ 
cord  ,  in  berry  a  shade  smaller.  In  quality  it  is  far 
superior  to  Concord,  being  much  sweeter,  less  pulpy, 
free  from  muskiness  in  taste  and  odor,  pure  and 
sprightly. 
Prof.  Munson  is  not  positive  as  to  the  male  parent- 
age,  as  he  used  pollen  of  both  Herbemont  and  Triunmh 
on  the  flowers  of  his  No.  1  Lincecumii.  In  vine  it 
resembles  the  Triumph  in  some  respects  more  than 
Herbemont.  It,  however,  resembles  the  Post  Oak 
Grape  in  the  matter  of  exceeding  hardiness,  resisting 
as  it  does  both  heat  and  cold.  The  fact  that  it  grows 
readily  from  cuttings  gives  some  evidence  in  favor  of 
Triumph  being  the  male  parent.  If  this  were  so,  then 
the  pedigree  of  the  Carman  would  be  half  V.  Lince¬ 
cumii  (Post  Oak) ;  one-quater  Labrusca  and  one-quar¬ 
ter  Vinifera  (var.  Chasselas  Mosqu6). 
The  Post  Oak  (V.  Lincecumii)  is  the  finest  and  har¬ 
diest  of  all  our  native  species  for  direct  production. 
The  Vines  Sent  to  Subscribers. 
We  append  a  few  abstracts  from  letters  received 
from  subscribers,  which  may  serve  to  show  what  kind 
of  vines  are  sent  and  how  they  are  packed. 
Caroline  County,  Md.-I  received  the  new  Carman  Grape  and 
think  it  was  one  of  the  best  rooted  cuttings  I  ever  saw. 
HARRISON  TYLER. 
Newark,  N.  J.  I  have  just  received  your  premium  grape  vine  and 
for  health  and  vigor  it  is  unsurpassed.  william  SOUTary. 
Chattanooga,  TENN.-Thank  you  for  the  nicely  rooted  Carman 
Grape  vine.  It  came  in  very  good  condition.  mbs.  c.  a.  willard. 
Cass  County,  Mo.  It  is  the  finest  vine  I  ever  received,  n.  randall. 
Sterling,  Kansas.  Carman  Grape  received  in  good  order.  It 
would  pass  for  a  two-year-old  vine.  It  would  seem  to  be  a  good 
grower-  e.  r.  FISHER. 
Kokomo,  IND.-Vine  received  in  good  condition  If  it  doesn’t  grow  it 
will  not  be  your  fault.  8.  D-  KNIPE 
The  vines  are  being  sent  this  year,  by  preference, 
only  to  subscribers  south  of  the  latitude  of  the  Ohio 
River.  Applicants  in  the  North  will  receive  them 
next  spring.  They  will  be  sent  to  all  subscribers  for 
1892  or  1893  who  send  the  eight  cents  in  stamps  for 
the  cost  of  mailing.  None  are  for  sale  at  less  than  $5 
each.  We  give  them  to  paid  yearly  subscribers,  only. 
LEAVINGS. 
The  Cost  of  Stable  Manure. — The  R.  N.-Y.  has 
often  maintained  that  many  farmers  use  stable 
manure  at  a  loss  if  they  put  a  fair  valuation  on  the 
labor  required  to  care  for  live  stock  and  estimate  the 
hay  and  grain  at  market  rates.  It  is  seldom  that  other 
papers  agree  to  this,  but  here  is  the  Mark  Lane  Ex 
press  talking  about  English  farming  : — 
Dung  has  been  looked  upon  as  a  by-product,  and  when  meat  was 
fetching  high  prices,  so  that  a  profit  was  realized  on  stock,  It  might  be 
considered  outside  the  subject  of  cattle  raising;  but  the  two  together 
have  not  done  much  this  year.  Dung-making  has  not  been  a  very 
profitable  business  for  some  time,  because  cattle  have  done  their 
owners  very  little  good,  and  the  dung  has  been  used  to  grow  crops 
which  have  lost  money.  Looking  forward,  there  seems  but  small 
chance  that  the  dung  made  this  year  will  be  employed  to  stimulate 
crops  which  will  be  remunerative  to  those  who  are  at  the  trouble  of 
growing  them,  but  there  is  a  great  difficulty  to  be  met,  for  without 
dung  or  some  other  manure  the  loss  on  the  farm  must  increase.  The 
land  in  England  has  been  under  cultivation  so  long  hat  there  is 
nothing  in  the  way  of  virgin  fertility  left,  and  plant  food  must  be  sup¬ 
plied.  If  farmyard  dung  is  too  expensive,  and  artificials  are  not  used, 
