82 
TAN. 31 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
a hydraulic ram, which has been in use since 1856. Suit¬ 
able pipes carry it all over the buildings and into conven¬ 
ient tanks, about which the polled cows cluster like sheep. 
Surplus milk is sold to the local creamery. The manure is 
hauled or wheeled out into the barnyard, where it lies un¬ 
til wanted for the crops. Mr. Hoyt is convinced that it 
will pay him to build a roof over this yard to protect the 
cows and the manure from the rain. He also wants 
some more economical way of getting the manure out of 
the stable than wheeling it out. Three views of the farm 
buildings are shown at Figs. 34, 35 and 36. The barns and 
sheds are built close together, and “ steps ” are saved 
whenever it is possible to save them. 
Home-mixed Chemical Fertilizers. 
A special building has been made on this farm where 
chemical fertilizers can be stored and mixed. “Home 
mixing” pays well because the labor is about all clear 
profit. With 30 men at work by the month or year, there 
General View of Farm Buildings. Fig. 34. 
must be rainy days when the stock of odd jobs will run 
out unless efforts are made to keep up the supply. Mixing 
fertilizers is an “odd job” to be done when the men would 
otherwise be sitting by the fire or holding up the barn. 
The chemicals are all bought in car-load lots and stored 
in bags. On a rainy afternoon two careful men will be 
sent to mix so many pounds of nitrate of soda, bone and 
potash. The result will be a “corn” or “potato” manure 
just suited to the soil, with the labor and packing of the 
manufacturer saved. The chemicals are mixed with hoe, 
shovel and rake, small quantities of each being added to the 
mixture at a time. The bone is well sifted and screened, the 
pieces too large to paBS through the sieve being smashed 
up with a spade. After considerable testing, the Hoyts 
decided upon the following rations for their soil. 
For potatoes—a mixture consisting of 1,200 pounds of 
bone, 500 pounds of sulphate of potash, 300 pounds of 
nitrate of soda. 
For corn the mixture is—1,000 pounds of bone, 600 pounds 
of muriate of potash, 400 pounds of nitrate of soda. 
The nitrate of soda is the only form of nitrogen they 
have ever used. From tests with the potash salts they 
have decided that the sulphate is best suited to potatoes 
were at least half a mile from the manure pile. One had 
25 loads of manure to the acre, and the other a dose of the 
home-mixed corn manure—525 pounds broadcast, and 150 
pounds in the drill to the acre. The broadcasting is done 
by the Spangler distributor. The fertilized field, though 
certainly the poorer soil, had corn better in color, size of 
ears and stalk and yield. Now, one horse could haul the 
fertilizer needed on the acre, while two horses traveled 25 
miles to get the stable manure to the field, besides the 
great difference in the labor of loading and unloading. The 
soil of this farm responds almost Immediately to an appli- 
r' 
cation of nitrate of soda. Riding through the fields of 
fodder corn one could see narrow streaks of dark green, 
heavy stalks. 
“ What makes that difference, Mr. Hoyt ?” The invari¬ 
able answer was: 
“ Oh, I went out one evening and sowed a little nitrate 
of soda on those rows.” 
But Mr. Hoyt realizes that the nitrate did not do the 
work alone. It whipped up the lazier stable manure in 
the boll and made it do its duty. Mr. Hoyt is greatly in¬ 
terested in the study of fertilizers and manures. How can 
we get hold of more nitrogen ? How can we prevent waste 
in stable manure ? What chemicals can we add to stable 
manure ? How can I buy and sell so as to keep the most 
fertility at home ? These and similar questions are of 
vital importance to New Eogland farmers. 
The Manufacture of Fruit Machines 
is the chief business of the place. The crude materials are 
put into the ground and nature does the manufacturing. 
The frost, the rain, the sun are the builders. The nursery 
business cannot be’ taught or hardly described in print. 
One must grow up into it. Mr. Hoyt can go through 
nursery rows and pick out the different varieties in an 
instant by the leaves, the twigs or the bark. As well ex¬ 
pect an American school-boy to read a Chinese book as to 
expect an amateur to jump into the nursery business with 
success. Good nursery stock needs as much manure as a 
crop of onions. Mr. Hoyt says that forest trees need even 
the larger towns. The three evergreens most in demand 
are Norway Spruce, Austrian Pine and White Pine, while 
of deciduous trees the elms and maples are in greatest 
demand. Mr. Hoyt has great faith in the new Green 
Mountain Grape. He believes that every one who desires 
a complete succession of grapes must have this one, be¬ 
cause it is the earliest white grape to ripen. 
Business Methods That Insure Success. 
The success of this farm is no accident. It is based 
upon certain well defined principles which the young men 
of to-day may well study. Here they are: 
1. Main or cash crops suited to soil, market, labor and 
tastes of the owners. 
2. A perfect system. Head work instead of heel work. 
Plans formed before work begins—not afterwards. 
3. Every waste utilized. Stock, labor and tools all 
“ save something.” 
Farm Buildings from the House. Fig. 36. 
4. Organization. The possibility of doing business 
enough to avoid all the middleman’s profits. 
5. A natural growth. Always moving forward, but 
never getting too far into deep water. 
Thousands of New England acres have been abandoned 
because the boys felt that their fathers were doing a 
crippled farming. They grew tired of straining their backs 
and starving their minds in the effort to make meat and 
grain out of New England sand in competition with the 
free, rich lands of the West. The only thing that will keep 
a bright Yankee boy on the farm is the evident fact that 
farming is a business worthy of study and capable of 
growth. 
The man who has an unlimited supply of plant food 
given him can possibly afford to practice hap hazard 
farming. Plants absorb food, Nature creates it and man 
handles it. As the available stock is wasted, nothing but 
men’s skill and care can supply the deficiency. If the 
farmer’s brain does not improve as the farm grows old, 
“abandonment” is the natural result. 
The past 50 years have covered a period of vast dis¬ 
coveries of crude wealth. The wastes have been enormous. 
In the next 50 years we cannot expect to discover the new 
WORKING FORCE ON A YANKEE FARM. “BIG FARMS” NOT ALL “OUT WEST.” Fig. 37. 
and the muriate to corn. Where the chemicals are to be 
broadcasted Mr. Hoyt believes in using the bone and potash 
in the fall and the nitrate of soda in the following spring. 
The nitrogen will quickly elope with water, while the bone 
and potash can take care of themselves. The chemical 
fertilizers are used on all crops, but mostly on steep fields 
at a distance from the barns where hauling heavy manure 
would be a terrible job in the spring mud. There is a 
practical illustration of the economical value of fertilizers 
on the Hoyts’ farm. Two fields on a hill-side, with only a 
stone wall between them, were planted to corn. They 
more than fruits. The ground, too, must be in the finest 
condition. Rye is frequently sown early in the season, 
making a good growth by November, when it is plowed 
under and the soil thoroughly fined. Apple seeds are 
bought in Vermont—those of wild fruits are preferred. 
Peach pits formerly came from Tennessee, but this year, 
owing to the scarcity of fruit, California pits were bought 
at considerable expense. A certain rotation in nursery 
stock Is followed, peaches, for example, never being grown 
on the same field two years in succession. Just now there 
is a good demand for forest trees to go on the streets of 
crude materials, but it will be an age far more prolific in 
results, for it must be a period of saving—of utilization of 
waste products. We shall hunt for saving machines in¬ 
stead of making machines. As an example, take the pigs 
on the Hoyts’ farm. What other stock could be kept that 
could handle waste stuff, provide food and cash, provide 
manure, and work purchased manure into the best shape? 
Do farmers consider all these things when they change 
stock or tools t 
The size of the Hoyts’ business is, in their system, an 
element Qf economy. They can afford to buy whole car- 
