366 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
MAY 9 
How Much Ensilage for a Cow? 
W. T. S., ALBION, N. Y.—I have learned 
by experience what would have saved me 
many dollars had I known it two years 
ago. When I asked how large a silo I 
should build, the answer was : “ A cubic 
foot of ensilage weighs 40 pounds, and a 
cow will eat 60 pounds a day. Figure it 
out for yourself. All the trouble is to have 
enough.” I lost about half I put in. I 
found the figuring depended on several 
“ ifs,” such as the kind of corn, its condition 
when put in, the capacity of the cows, etc. 
Last year I reduced the size of the silo from 
11 by 24 to 11 by 13% feet and thought I bad 
a sure thing; but lost some around the 
edges where trodden down and in the cor¬ 
ners. I am also satisfied that ensilage when 
trodden will not keep as long after exposure 
to the air as when allowed to settle of its 
own weight, owing, in my opinion, to its 
not heating enough to kill the mold germs. 
With regard to the size of the silo, F. L. G., 
in the Rural of April 18, could not have 
hit it much nearer than one 10 by 12 feet—120 
square feet of surface for 8 or 10 cows, or 12 
or 15 feet per cow per day. If Northern 
flint corn is used—which is the best by all 
odds, I think—let it get fully as ripe as for 
husking; then let it lie on the ground in 
bunches of convenient size for handling for 
two to four days to wilt. Some of mine 
lay there a week. If sweet or Southern 
corn is used I would not have the silo over 
10 square feet per cow. I planted mine in 
drills three feet apart and kept it clear of 
weeds, and picked off the best ears while 
standing and cut the rest into the silo. I 
gave two feeds per day with a light one of 
hay, and four quarts of bran and middlings 
at each feed to three farrow cows, which 
made the finest beef, the butcher said, he 
had ever killed. 
In answer to another query some weeks 
ago, I reply that two thicknesses of rough 
boards with paper between will keep ensi¬ 
lage in good condition. Mine was built in 
that way and so were two others in this 
neighborhood, and I have heard no com¬ 
plaints. I would prefer to have the boards 
surfaced on one side, however, to make them 
of the same thickness. 
Under Wood Shingle. 
S. A. L., Meredith Village, N. H.—It 
is generally known that shingles split from 
blocks of wood and shaved or shaped by 
hand will last twice as long as sawed 
shingles, even when the latter are taken 
from the same block or tree. This great 
difference is caused by the twisted, uneven 
surface of those made by hand, which 
causes them to lie apart so as to freely ad¬ 
mit air between them ; while sawed or ma¬ 
chine shingles, having flat, even surfaces, lie 
close upon each other, leaving no place for 
air to circulate between them, hence they 
become wet and very soon rot. Now to ob¬ 
viate this difficulty when shingling a roof, 
don’t drive the nails fully in, but leave all 
of them out one fourth of an inch. This 
will cause the thick ends of the shingles to 
lie apart admitting air freely so that they 
will dry out quickly and will last twice as 
long as they would were the nails driven 
fully down. Thus fully one-half the out¬ 
lay of shingling any roof will be saved and 
millions of dollars will be economized to 
the people of each State. 
Beginners with this new method, often 
forget, and add one blow too many, thus 
putting the nail fully down. This difficul¬ 
ty is easily avoided by drilling a large hole 
in the face of the hammer or by shrinking 
a thin ferrule around the face of an ordi¬ 
nary hammer or shingling hatchet. I am 
the discoverer of this valuable method of 
putting on shingles and have fully tested 
its merits. There is no patent on it, and I 
now offer it free to all. 
R. N.-Y.—Several good carpenters in¬ 
dorse this method. 
A Succession of Sweet Corn. 
C. L., Chatham, N. J.—On page 293 The 
Rural asks for information in regard to 
raising sweet corn for summer hotels. 
Here is my last year’s experience: 
I raised a supply for the Fairview House 
at Chatham, N. J., and was never out of a 
full supply from July 20 till the middle of 
October. I planted the following varieties 
in the order named: 1, Cory; 2, Early 
Minnesota; 3, Early Shaker; 4, Hickox 
Improved; 5, Old Colony, and, 6, Stowell’s 
Evergreen. There was no agreement as to 
the amount to be furnished, except that the 
hotel people should have all they might 
need, which did not average over 125 ears a 
day, so I had enough and as much more for 
one of the marketmen and a few indi¬ 
viduals besides. Th6 “House” objected to 
the Cory Corn on account of its red cob, but 
I never heard of such an objection before. 
Potato Seed and Potato Yields. 
David B. Woodbury, Oxford County, 
Maine. —In reference to the remarks on 
potato flowers on page 267 of The Rural, 
of the many varieties of potatoes I have 
grown I have seen but one in which the 
stigma protruded before the bud opened 
and that was during the past season. It 
was Harris’s No. 1, which was sent me by 
a potato specialist of Ohio as a sure seeder ; 
yet it failed here, even when hand-fer¬ 
tilized, owing perhaps to a very wet season. 
I think the reason why so very few varieties 
seed is that the generative organs are 
usually weak, rather than because the 
pollen is scarce. We have lost in seed as 
we have gained in tubers. The same is the 
case with regard to apples, pears, etc. 
Nature was satisfied to produce seeds and 
propagate the species. Man wanted im¬ 
proved fruits, and well has he been re¬ 
warded for his labors. Before the last 
season I had grown from one seed planted 
30 ounces, but last season I beat this by 7 
ounces, having grown 37 ounces from a 
seed the first year, one tuber weighing 10% 
ounces. The seeds were not planted until 
May 1, and were transplanted and got good 
field cultivation. I have no doubt much 
larger lots are grown. 
Changing Cows to Grass. 
A. P. F., Wabasha Co., Minn.—I n my 
practice the change Is not so very great 
that any especial preparation is necessary 
so far as feed is concerned; for the cows are 
provided with succulent food—corn and 
clover ensilage—all winter, supplemented 
of course by some dry hay cut and 
mixed and also some meal. The same 
ration except the dry hay, is con¬ 
tinued after they go to pasture. They will 
come into the barn at milking time and 
eat ensilage with great avidity even when 
fed in the pasture as it is at every feed. 
When the silo gives out, as it will at an 
early day this spring, I resort to other 
crops for this partial soiling. Clover is 
the first thing; after that come oats and 
then corn. But the most radical change 
that I have to provide for is from close 
confinement to unrestricted liberty. From 
the necks of my cows the chains have not 
been dropped for six months, and will not 
be for 10 or 15 days yet—not until grass Is 
good, which in this climate we cannot ex¬ 
pect before the early part of May. They 
might run too much and injure them¬ 
selves or each other. They must be turned 
into small inclosures in small squads and 
be watched. “ Do they have all they want 
at first ?” Yes, but they must be turned 
out with stomachs well filled with food 
that they like. A half starved animal may 
be killed by placing it where plenty of 
good food is to ba had; a full-fed one 
never. 
The Value of Lime In the Soil. 
Henry Stewart, Macon County, N. C. 
—A residence of some years in eastern 
Pennsylvania, where the farmers use lime 
regularly at the beginning of each rotation, 
and where the farming is proverbially ex¬ 
cellent, probably led me to think as highly 
of this fertilizer as I have since done, and 
to recognize most easily the mistakes made 
in the discussion of its properties and uses 
on the farm. Hence I notice the inconsist¬ 
ency in the remark quoted in the Rural 
of April 18, page 307 from Storer’s “ Agri¬ 
culture,” to the effect that “one good dose 
of lime should last for a century.” 
Now, this applied to carbonate of lime 
and not to lime. Lime when applied to the 
soil Is caustic and soluble in 700 times its 
weight of cold water. Consequently it is 
readily diffused in the soil and becomes car¬ 
bonated and inert. It is no longer lime— 
calcic oxide (Ca O) an active alkaline sub¬ 
stance, strongly destructive of organic mat¬ 
ter and producing changes in the mineral 
elements of the soil—but a mild carbonate 
of calcium (Ca CO s ) insoluble and inert. The 
40 bushels or 3,200 pounds per acre of 
lime usually applied has thus been com¬ 
pletely disposed of in the six years succeed¬ 
ing its application. Nearly 300 pounds of 
it have been taken up by the crops grown 
in the five or six years following, and the 
rest has disappeared by diffusion in the 
soil, and no doubt by percolation through 
the drainage. How quickly this happens I 
have reason to know. 
There was on my farm near the house a 
field which had never been limed, as I was 
told. I put 300 bushels of fresh stone lime 
on eight acres. The well had previously 
given soft water. Gradually the water in 
it became hard and in two years was so 
troublesome that water was brought in 
pipes from a spring at a distance from the 
field. Probably the whole of the lime had 
gone below the reach of the roots before 
the last of five crops had been grown. But 
had it all staid near the surface, it would 
have been as useless as the abundant lime¬ 
stone fragments of which the soil chiefly 
consisted. Thus it is not the sinking of 
the lime in the soil which calls for renewed 
applications every five or six years, but its 
change to an inert carbonate. At least it 
appears to me to be so, and although I have 
the greatest respect for the views of the ac¬ 
complished author of Agriculture, I think 
the lime would need to be renewed, If it 
never sank in the soil. 
Salary of a Michigan Farmer. 
C. L. H., Okemos, M chigan.—S ix years 
ago I commenced farming. Most of my 
friends advised me against the step; but I 
was better acquainted with this business 
than any other and accordingly I made the 
venture. At that time my health was poor; 
since then I have gained health and 
strength. My weight when I began was 
117 pounds; now It is 130. The crops sold 
have included wheat, oats, hay, fruit, 
clover seed, hogs, cattle, milk to the con- 
densery at Lansing, sheep, wool, etc. Hav¬ 
ing a variety of products, the average in¬ 
come has been more uniform than if I had 
made a specialty of one crop. I have not 
charged for any thing raised on the farm 
used in a family of five, and I have been 
careful to deduct the price of any thing 
bought that could have been raised. My 
sales are as follows: Net 1st year $800; 2nd, 
$600; 3d, $659; 4th, $823; 5th, $777; 6th, $636. 
Total for six years, $4,295. Average per 
year $715. Average per month $59%. I be¬ 
lieve that my farm expenses fire wood and 
farm products, meat, eggs, milk, etc., are 
about equal to those of an average man in 
town; therefore, I figure that this money 
does me as much good as it would in town 
and I had my living expenses to pay out of 
it. I expect to do bstter in the future, as I 
am but 30 years of age and expect to learn 
a great deal from the experience and obstr 
vations of others. 
“The Caucus of the Novelties.” 
Prof. W. F. Massey, North Carolina 
Experiment Station.— All honor to The 
Rural New-Yorker for the stand it has 
taken against the common practice with 
some florists and seedsmen of taking up an 
old plant, giving it a name coined for the 
occasion and by exaggerated wood cuts 
scattering it broadcast. It is no excuse 
that these plants are sometimes handsome 
things. The only honest way to sell plants 
is to call them by their proper names, and 
tell the truth and nothing but the truth 
(Continued on next vclqc.) 
Advertisers treat all correspondents 
well if they mention The Rural New- 
Yorker. 
That 
Tired Feeling 
Whether caused by 
change of climate, sea¬ 
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or illness, is driven off by 
Hood’s 
Sarsaparilla 
For a Disordered Liver 
Try BEEGHAM’S PILLS. 
25cts. a Box. 
OF ATI . DRUQGISTS. 
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A PERFECT MACHINE, 
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BEST MATERIAL. 
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HOMES FOR ALL 
In the South 
along tne 
line of the 
MOBRIJE^COyO^JlAILIUIAIL Cheap lands 
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