212 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
MARCH 14 
WE WANT TO KNOW. 
[Here we propose to print, from time to time, ques¬ 
tions which seem to demand a general discussion. 
Many questions cannot be answered properly by any 
single Individual. They very properly demand a 
wide discussion, and the answers will be valuable 
when made up from the actual experiences of observ¬ 
ing men. We respectfully call upon our friends to 
aid us In solving these problems. Be kind enough to 
send us a brief account of any experience you may 
have had In these lines.- Eds.] 
Silo Space Saved.—I have demon¬ 
strated to my satisfaction the advantage of 
the silo, but have always thought it neces¬ 
sary to cut the corn stalks to economize 
room. Can any of The Rural corres¬ 
pondents give me the relative quantity of 
fodder stored in a given silo cut and uncut? 
Michigan. G. E. B. 
Stump Pullers.— Has any of The 
Rural’s readers had any experience with 
the Hawkeye stump-pulling machine ? I 
have 40 acre 3 of woodland that I want to 
clear and bring under cultivation ; most of 
it is pine from 12 to 36 inches through. 
After it has been cut, etc., I want to ex¬ 
tract the stumps, as I believe it will be 
cheaper to get a good machine to take them 
out at once than to wait for their decay, 
which is a question of years. R. G. F. 
Ropes, N. C. 
The R. N.-Y. has not tried this machine 
itself but has friends who have done so and 
who report excellent success.—E ds. 
I intend to build and would like to learn 
all about rubber roofing. Can readers of 
The Rural tell me ? m. f. 
Medina, N. Y. 
A Grape Puzzle.— Among 40 vines I 
have two Jeffersons which bore well in 
1889, but last year forgot to set bloom buds. 
Both grew well from the start, were not 
cut back by frost after starting, and 
although differently situated as to soil, 
one being at my house in a cool, damp 
soil, and the other in a warm clay loam in 
the row where all others bore heavily, they 
behaved in the same way, neither vine 
bearing half-a-dozen clusters; the buds 
grew strong but no bloom appeared. 
Why ? J. w. h. 
Orange Co.. Ind. 
Ans.—W e are unable to offer an explana¬ 
tion. A chance for some of our wise men I 
Buckwheat for Ensilage.—C an buck¬ 
wheat straw be used profitably in a silo ? 
My stock eat it with avidity when fresh. 
Immense quantities of it are wasted here. 
The trouble is to keep it from molding 
and spoiling. D. c. O. 
Cattaraugus, N. Y. 
What Crops Here ?—I have three acres 
of black muck land which was seeded down 
three years and then cultivated two years. 
Will some of the readers of The R. N.-Y. 
who have had experience, please give their 
opinions, first, as to what it is best to raise 
on such ground, second, whether it will 
raise good onions and cabbages; and, third, 
will it need any fertilizers, and if so, 
what? H. t. w. 
Grove P. O., Mich. 
Skunk Farming.— Who knows anything 
about skunk raising ? Do skunks burrow 
and how can one fence against them ? 
(No address.) E. s. D. 
R. N.-Y.—We have read of skunk farms 
but never saw one. The skunk does bur¬ 
row, its burrows being usually near the 
surface and from six to eight feet in extent. 
■The flesh of the animal is white and fat 
and if carefully skinned, is highly esteemed 
by the Indians and eaten with gusto by 
•whites in many parts of the country. The 
oil, nearly pure oleine, is excellent for 
leather; but is of no use in medicine. The 
fur is rather coarse, but is sometimes used 
for common purposes, and of late years 
thousands of skins have been annually ex¬ 
ported to Europe, where they appear under 
various disguises. The animal is very pro¬ 
lific, having from six to nine young at a 
birth. Skunks are reported to be often 
quite dangerous in the Western States, as 
they are frequently affected by a disease 
which renders the saliva so poisonous that 
their bite is to be feared more than that of 
the rattlesnake. If anybody knows any¬ 
thing about the new business of “ skunk¬ 
farming ” we will thank him for informa¬ 
tion. 
Smut on Corn.—O ur corn has been 
badly infected with smut for several years. 
I read in The Rural lately that soaking 
the seed in vitriol water would kill the 
smut. We used to treat our seed wheat in 
that way when it was smutty, and it did 
kill the smut; but where the smut is left 
on the ground in harvesting the corn, as 
it is in large quantities, it hardly seems 
possible that merely soaking the seed would 
be a preventive. Has anybody tried it ? 
I had a fine crop of pop-corn last year, but 
it was badly injured by smut. E. N. 
Appleton, Wis. 
The Cost of a Silo.— In common with 
many subscribers of The Rural I am much 
interested in ensilage and silos. The cost is 
the great obstacle to me at present. The 
article of D. C. Allen, on page 163, gave me 
some encouragement; but a little figuring 
showed that the figures ought to have been 
$120 instead of $12, which would just about 
buy the nails and paper. Mr. Allen is cer¬ 
tainly away off. I wish to know if two 
courses of rough, unmatched lumber with 
paper between them, as described by Mr. 
Allen, will answer the purpose. 
R. N.-Y.—Let us have exact estimates 
from the cheap silo men. Will they tell us 
just what they paid for lumb?r, nails, paper 
and labor ? _ 
“ When we find, a paper that has back¬ 
bone enough to tell the truth, let us 
have backbone enough to help It along.”— 
L. w. lightly. 
WE KNOW. 
Crows Pulling Corn.— I have planted 
some field and table corn for my own use 
during the last 20 years and have been 
much annoyed by the crows pulling it as 
soon as it got out of the ground. I have 
spent a great deal of time putting up scare¬ 
crows ; it appears to me that they only 
serve to show the crows where the corn is. 
They, like mankind, appear to be advanc¬ 
ing in knowledge also! If I am not mis¬ 
taken they live to the age of 100 years. I 
was told to mutilate dead crows and 
scatter their parts over the field as that 
would frighten all crows away. I have 
tried it for two years, using, say, about a 
crow and a half to an acre; though per¬ 
haps fewer would do in a large field. With 
me it has been as successful as I could 
wish. The crows can be shot when the 
snow is on the ground; for on placing 
lights, liver or red meat in a tree they con¬ 
gregate about the bait. J. M. H. 
Rye Beach. 
“ Money Power ” in Kansas —One 
living elsewhere can have no idea of the 
war the “ money powers ” are making on 
the members of the Alliance in this State. 
As aD illustration, one of our prominent 
farmers was met on the street last summer 
by one of the leading merchants of the city 
of Marion, who said to him : “I under¬ 
stand you have joined the Alliance?” 
“Yes, sir.” “Come into my store then 
and settle up your account.” While our 
banks have plenty of money, a member of 
the Alliance can get none, yet we have not 
become discouraged, but at the last election 
elected both of our representatives from 
the Alliance ranks, and we propose to 
stick together till the money power yields 
or is broken. J. B. D. 
Antelope, Kan. 
“Likes The No. 2.”—Last September I 
dug from 305 feet of rows of the Rural 
New-Yorker No. 2 Potato, counting every¬ 
one as large as a cranberry, 1,319 merchant¬ 
able potatoes and 97 small ones. The 1,319 
weighed 507 pounds, and the 97 small ones, 
8X pounds. Nine of the largest only 
weighed 9>£ pounds, and 30 of the next 
largest, 27 pounds. They are the hand¬ 
somest potatoes and the most uniform in 
size I have ever seen. They “ blow ” for 
themselves, no need of a word in their 
praise—one has only to show them. I did 
not think of weighing or counting them 
until I commenced to dig them, and I had 
dug 15 feet of the row before I found a 
small one; that is to say, one of unmer¬ 
chantable size. They had only ordinary 
field culture, and were planted 3 feet by 15 
to 18 inches, two eyes to a piece. The Rural 
Blush were growing on one side and the 
White Elephant on the other, all three 
first sent out by The Rural, and though 
all were in the same kind of soil and re¬ 
ceived the same treatment, there was noth¬ 
ing unusual about the Blush or the 
Elephant either in yield or size, but I was 
simply astonished both at the yield and 
size of the R. N.-Y. No. 2. t. h. l. 
Falmouth, Mass. 
A Mighty Dwarf.— Here is my ex¬ 
perience with Henderson’s Bush Lima : I 
received a package containing 26 beans in 
the spring of 1889 and succeeded in getting 
only nine plants to mature, on account of 
too much wet. I saved every bean and 
planted all last spring, and I gathered two 
bushels of dry beaus. We had used through 
the season all wanted by a family of four, 
eating our last green beans on the first of 
November. M. F. 
Bullsville, Mo. 
. ... . ... 
We Grow. We T est. We Sell. 
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J 
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