1891 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
45 
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that the consequent keener competition would reduce 
profits, but when it is understood that population is over¬ 
taking production, that just legislation will enable the 
farmer to obtain his just profit, and that keener competi¬ 
tion will result in better farming, there will soon be im¬ 
provement all along the line—in tools, stock, soil, crops, 
methods and prices. 
As The R. N.-Y. is a mirror that at all times reflects 
the current state of farming, I will give here the 
gist of a few articles in the issue of Saturday, December 
31, 1915, with a few comments thereon. One striking im¬ 
provement in The Rural itself is that its pictures are in 
colors; photography had been perfected in 1910 so as to 
produce pictures with all the various colors of the objects 
represented, and a few years afterwards the art of directly 
printing photos in colors was invented. This number of 
The Rural is gorgeous with color. On the first page is a 
picture of a new hybrid red raspberry which The RURAL 
had tried, and it reports that it is hardy, a good cropper 
and of excellent flavor and color. The berries in the 
picture—of life size—average 1% inch in length and the 
color is dazzling. 
A correspondent in Illinois gives an account of the 
harvesting of his hay crop the preceding summer and his 
success with the new drier. It appears from his descrip¬ 
tion that he began cutting after the dew had dried off and 
followed the mower with the electric drier which picked 
up the hay, dried it, and delivered it in one continuous 
windrow ready for the loader and compressor which 
followed. I learn from advertisements in the paper that 
“compressors” are a great improvement over the old- 
fashioned hay forks and slings. The hay is compressed as 
loaded, fastened with wire or small rope and the whole 
load is at once transferred to the mow by means of a derrick. 
This machine is portable and can be used for lifting loads 
of hay or grain to the mow, or it can be attached to a 
wagon and will load hay, grain, stones, manure, etc , 
into the wagon, and by a little adjustment of its parts it 
makes an efficient stump puller or rock extractor. All 
this, and more, I gather from previous issues of The 
Rural. 
Another correspondent sends in his annual record of 20 
special-purpose butter cows. A photograph of part of the 
herd shows them to be fawn in color with not very large 
udders, but with immense barrels and the “ hoops ” plainly 
show. They look as if they were all inside machinery 
with barely enough framework to hold them together. 
The yield was an even 1,000 pounds per cow. The Rural 
in commenting on this says: “ This shows what careful 
breeding for one specific purpose will accomplish. There 
used to be, in old times, men who claimed that cows could 
be bred that were equally good for milk or butter; if those 
men were now alive what would they say to a herd of cows 
whose milk averaged 12 per cent of fat, or of a herd of 
special-purpose milch cows whose milk showed five per 
cent of fat, the average yield per cow being 16.000 pounds. 
While this quantity of milk would have made an immense 
amount of butter, the “ 1915-ers ” found that it would not 
pay to feed a cow for butter that had so small a per cent 
of fat in her milk. This milk was sold for family use and 
to cheese factories, and the milk dairymen made quite as 
much money as the butter dairymen. (Will not cows be 
then bred especially for cheese as well as for milk or 
butter? Eds.) 
Electricity seems to be the power used to drive ma¬ 
chinery, both locomotive and stationary. “Stored” 
electricity is advertised by several firms for farmers’ use; 
electric harvesters, mowers, plows and cultivators are 
advertised and, judging by the cuts, they are very frail- 
looking pieces of mechanism and must be made of some 
metal stronger and lighter than steel. 
I have only room enough to quote a few “ Brevities.” 
“ Another milking machine patented.” 
“The baled ensilage business is increasing.” 
“Immigrants this year only numbered 20,000; the $1,000 
limit law works well.” 
“ Who has grown more than 50 bushels of wheat per 
acre on 100 acres this year ? See page 1656.” 
“Only 20 per cent of the government’s railroad and 
telegraph employees came from the farm.” 
“ 4 The farmer feeds the world’—and gets good prices for 
the feed.” A. L. crosby. 
Baltimore County, Maryland. 
A NEBRASKA HAYMAKER’S OUTFIT. 
Do we know what we are talking about when we speak 
of “ the American farmer ? ” There are certain farm 
practices in Maine, certain others in California, in Mich¬ 
igan and in Florida. It is practically impossible to find 
in any part of the country a farmer who can combine in 
his farming all the methods employed in the four quarters 
of the country. Still the Maine farmer might learn from 
his California brother, and the Michigan farmer might 
learn from both of them. The R. N.-Y. proposes to pre¬ 
pare a series of articles describing the farm methods that 
have proved economical in various parts of the country so 
that the widely scattered “American farmer” may pull 
himself together a little and know better what he Is 
capable of doing. 
For a “ starter,” let us see the way a Nebraska hay¬ 
maker operates. The pictures shown at Figs 18 and 19, 
are drawn from photographs taken on the farm of Richard 
Palmer, of Holt County, Nebraska. The “outfit” con¬ 
sists of four mowers four or six-feet cut, two rakes, four 
“sweeps” forgathering and drawing the hay, and a 
stacker. Fig. 20 shows the outfit drawn up in Mr. Palmer’s 
“ barn-yard.” The three small buildings shown are all 
that are considered necessary on this 300-acre farm—295 
acres of which can be plowed 1 Fig. 21 shows the outfit 
at work. At the left are the mowers. The “ stacker ” 
occupies the center, while at the right is shown one of the 
sweeps. These “ sweeps ” are little used except on the 
level counties of the West. Take a manure fork, keep 
the handle in your hand and let the tines rest on the floor, 
and push them along under the hay or straw and you have 
the principle of the sweep. It is a fork 30 or more feet 
wide with wooden tines three or four feet long. Put one 
horse at each end of this sweep and start towards the 
stack and the hay on the ground before it is pushed into a 
bunch where the stacker may take it, and by horse power, 
toss it on the stack. Very few pitchforks are needed in 
such “haying.” Does the “sweep” leave any “scatter¬ 
ings? ” Certainly, but on this Nebraska hay farm it would 
probably cost more to rake the “scatterings” than they 
are worth. With this outfit Mr. Palmer put up, last sum¬ 
mer, 731 tons of hay, taking about three weeks to do the 
work. He has stacked 90 tons in one day and 250 tons in 
one week. The hay is stacked on contract, the price being 
75 cents to $1 per ton for cutting, curing and stacking. 
Haying is begun about August 1, and the yield is usually 
from 1 % to 2% tons per acre. Most of it is cut on the 
river bottoms, but it is not at all like “ marsh hay,” but 
is, when well cured, very nutritious and liked both by 
horses and cattle. Sometimes spots are found which will 
yield much more than 2% tons per acre—one 10-acre valley 
this season produced 44 tons. 
As a contrast to this Nebraska farming, we show, at 
Fig. 22, the buildings on the farm of E. S. Wood, North 
Pomfret, Vermont. This farm contains 100 acres, of 
which 38 are under cultivation—the rest being in wood¬ 
land and pasture. The stock kept consists of 18 cows, 
eight young cattle and tix horses. This farm was first 
occupied in 1770, being a part of the John W. Dana tract 
described in The R. N.-Y. of January 4, 1890. The house 
was built 60 years ago. Mr. Wood writes : 
“ I have owned and occupied this farm for the last 40 
years. It has Improved greatly and will now keep twice 
the amount of stock it kept 40 years ago. I formerly kept 
sheep, but for the last 20 or 25 years my stock has mostly 
consisted of Jersey cows.” 
“ When we find a paper that has hack-hone 
enough to tell the truth, let us have hack- 
hone enough to help it along.”-'— l. w. lightly. 
The Farmers Club. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
[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. Put questions on a separate piece 
of paper.] 
Potash. 
C. S. B., East MiUstown, N. J.— My land requires, be¬ 
yond what I produce myself, lime and potash. The latter 
I have obtained in the shape of Canada ashes. Now, is 
there not some other form of potash, free from saline mat¬ 
ter, which is not as expensive and is more suitable than 
Canada ashes ? 
Ans.—Y es, potash in muriate of potash is cheaper than 
that of unleached ashes. We doubt very much if your 
land needs lime. Try fine ground bone with the muriate, 
then you will have lime and a complete fertilizer as well. 
On a portion of the land so treated add at the rate of 200 
pounds nitrate of soda to the acre. No doubt such an ex¬ 
periment will be helpful. 
Raspberry Pests, Etc. 
J.McF., Watertown, Wis.—l. What causes the leaves on 
some of my Cuthbert Raspberries to curl up ? While the 
color is a deeper green than that of the others, still they 
dwindle away until finally the bush dies in a year or two. 
The Cuthberts took this disease from some Hansells. 
Whatever it is, it cleaned out all the Hansells before it in¬ 
jured the Cuthberts; being so much stronger these are able 
to resist this disease longer. 2. What kind of an insect stings 
the canes of both red and black raspberries in the autumn, 
so as to weaken and harm them so much ? Is there any 
remedy for either pest ? 
Ans.— 1. The disease affecting the foliage of the rasp¬ 
berry is not recognized by the above description. If J. 
McF. will inclose specimens at the proper time we may be 
able to identify it and suggest remedies. 2. The insect in 
question is the Tree Cricket—CEcanthus niveus—Serv. 
The female deposits her eggs in long vertical rows in the 
canes in autumn. This weakens them, causing them to 
break off on the least provocation. The only preventive 
known is to search out the infested canes in the fall or 
spring and cut and burn them. The presence of the eggs 
is revealed by the long vertical rows of punctures, and 
sometimes by the partial splitting of the cane. The ma¬ 
ture insect does not feed upon the raspberry. 
Draining “ Black Waxy” Soil. 
C. B. B., Pendleton, Kan.— Could soil somewhat of the 
“ black waxy ” nature be made suitable for a vegetable 
garden by underdraining ? How far apart should the 
drains be ? How large should the tiles be for the main 
drain, the ground to be drained being about three-fourths 
of an acre ? The river, once every two or three years, over¬ 
flows the land through which the main would have to run. 
Would that be likely to choke up the drain ? 
ANSWERED BY PROF. R. C. CARPENTER. 
There is no practical difficulty in draining the piece in 
question, provided a suitable outlet can be secured. I 
would advise the use of a main drain of four-inch pipe, 
into which should be led a sufficient number of three-iuch 
lines to form a network of drains about 40 feet apart, and 
at least three feet in depth. Once in each 10 or 15 rods I 
would advise the construction of a silt basin, from which 
the operation of the drains can be observed and obstruc¬ 
tions can be removed. I do not anticipate the drains will 
be stopped up in the soils mentioned, especially if silt 
basins are provided. It might be that an examination of 
the ground would indicate a better arrangement for the 
drains than that here indicated. 
Commercial Fertilizers In Wisconsin. 
B. A , So. Manston, Wis.—Has The Rural any knowl¬ 
edge of the effects of commercial fertilizers in Wisconsin ? 
Ans.— A few years ago Dr. Babcock of the Experiment 
Station at Madison, issued a bulletin on fertilizers. Send 
for it. J. M. Smith and other large gardeners use large 
quantities of ashes and report success from their use, but 
they report less success with bone. But little of the 
standard brands of fertilizers is used in the State yet, but 
farmers in the older sections are experimenting more or 
less with them and within 10 years their use will be greatly 
increased. 
Sulphur for Wire-Worms. 
W. II. R , Chateaugay, N. Y.—' The Rural says that 
sulphur used in liberal quantities will repel wire-worms. 
About how much would be a “ liberal quantity,” and 
would there be no danger of using too much of it for 
vegetables, melons, etc. ? 
Ans. —We use all the way from 200 to 400 pounds in the 
trenches to repel wire-worms from potatoes. 
Rations for Butter. 
J. W. D. C., no address. —I have hay (Timothy) and 
corn fodder for rough feed for my cows, and I wish to 
feed oats, wheat and corn and oil meal; in what proportion 
by weight should these be mixed to show the best result 
in the churn ? 
ANSWERED BY HENRY STEWART. 
As a rule, the simplest manner of feeding is the best. 
Nothing is gained by mixing so many feeds as above men¬ 
tioned, for the same elements of nutrition are contained 
in all the grains, as may be seen by the following figures: 
COMPOSITION OF 
Per cent of Oats. Wheat. Corn. 
Albuminoids. 12 13 10 
Carbohydrates. 55% 66% 62 
Fats. 6 1% 6% 
Feeding value. 98 cents $1.13 $1.11 
So that for the nutriment that is contained in these grains 
nothing is gained by mixing them. The only gain that 
can be made is by the use of one or the other that may be 
temporarily cheaper in the market. But when feeding 
for butter is the object in view, a glance at the figures 
will show that corn is the best of the three and wheat is 
the dearest, because it is so deficient in fat, and as the fat 
is mostly contained in the bran which has 3% per cent of 
it, it is better to use bran than wheat, or wheat middlings, 
which contain less than three per cent of fat. In practice 
it has been found that corn meal is the best of all grain 
foods for making butter. Not long ago a number of lead¬ 
ing dairymen gave their opinion on this subject and nearly 
all favored the use of corn meal as the best food for but¬ 
ter. The fats in corn have a good flavor, a yellow color 
and a suitable texture or consistency for making the best 
butter. Cotton-seed meal has all the good qualities of 
corn meal, but it Is an extremely rich food and only a 
small quantity is required. It contains about 40 per cent 
of albuminoids and 16 to 18 per cent of fats. Thus when 
mixed in the proportion of one-fourth with corn meal, it 
makes the best possible mixture for feeding cows for but¬ 
ter; 100 pounds of the mixture will contain 17% pounds of 
albuminoids and 9% per cent of fat of the best quality. 
Cotton-seed meal has a very pleasant taste, the oil is a 
deep yellow, is soft and apt to turn rancid, and as the oil 
of the food is absorbed into the blood, and consequently 
into the milk of a cow, directly without any change by 
digestion, it is of great importance that the food should 
contain the best qualities of the fat which go without 
change into the butter. The oils of oats, wheat and bran 
are white, hard, and crystalline, and are thus not desir¬ 
able for feeding for butter. If, however, it is still thought 
desirable to use all the grains mentioned, I would recom¬ 
mend one fourth each of oats and wheat and one-half of 
corn ground together, and the meal to be mixed with one- 
fourth of the total quantity of cotton-seed meal. 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
B. B., Sangamon County, III.— Is the Japan pear stock 
now used by some nurseries, imported from Japan or 
grown elsewhere ? What of its price ? 
ANS.—It is all imported. The price fluctuates so that it 
is hardly possible to give any standard figure. 
J. C. D., Viola, Del.— How does The R. N,-Y. sow 55 
pounds of nitrate of soda on an acre of land, and how is it 
divided where there are 20,000 hills of potatoes per acre ? 
There would be only one-twenty fifth of an ounce to a hill. 
Ans.—T he nitrate of soda is not sown broadcast over the 
entire soil, but only over the soil in the trenches which are 
usually about one foot wide. 
R. B., Montreal, Canada.— Has The Rural tried the 
Bordeaux Mixture as a preventive of potato blight ? 
Ans. —We have not tried this mixture except in a small 
way. It has been tried at several of our experiment sta¬ 
tions and by some large farmers with varying success—in 
the majority of cases the results have been favorable. We 
believe that our investigators will yet learn how and when 
to use it successfully. 
