386 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
MAY 16 
How to Reach the Farmers. 
B. W., Suffolk Co., N. Y.—In The R. 
N.-Y., page 332, writers discuss whether 
the institutes reach the poor farmers. Now 
I can only speak for myself and the town 
generally. I am a poor farmer, but when 
the institute comes to our county seat 12 
miles distant, something serious must be 
the matter if I am not there. I take a great 
interest in them, and intend to take in 
some of the other county institutes. There 
are so many small items and ideas brought 
up and explained that otherwise we would 
be very likely never to think of, that I do 
not like to miss a session. The farmers of 
the town as a whole are alive to anything 
that will promote the welfare of their call¬ 
ing. When the institute meets at River- 
head all the local clubs send delegates who 
report the proceedings at the next meeting 
of the club after their return. Therefore, all 
that cannot attend the institute can get 
the details if they feel disposed to do so. 
The writer from Ontario County speaks of 
a farmers’ picnic as a good means to bring 
them together. It certainly does bring out 
and get together more farmers of all classes 
than anything ever tried here. I will give 
just an outline of our harvest home festi¬ 
val which is held some time in August at 
Oak Lawn Grove, Southold, L. L, the cen¬ 
tral village of the town. 
We meet in the morning with decorated 
wagons, all kinds of farm products being 
used in the decoration according to the taste 
and inclination of the owner,some with four- 
horse wagons, others on horse back and in 
carriages, and at the hour named all form 
in line with bands playing and we march 
through the village to the grove where 
there is speaking upon farm topics inter¬ 
spersed with singing and music by the dif¬ 
ferent bands. Refreshments are served to 
those who want them, while others, th$ 
larger number, picnic on the grounds. It 
is a day given to pleasure and profit and 
all get all the enjoyment they want out of 
it. I think there are very few farmers in 
our town who don’t feel the influence of 
the institute in some way. We think down 
here on the east end of Long Island, that it 
pays best to be progressive and pull out of 
the old ruts, and be ready to digest all the in¬ 
stitute will give us when it next meets in 
the county. I am very glad to see the 
matter of reaching all classes of farmers 
agitated, as there are many who want 
waking up to the necessity of more thought 
and method in the care of farms and crops, 
and in saving everything of a fertilizing 
nature that will help the compost heap. 
Going Against “ Science.” 
A. L. Crosby, Baltimore County, Md. 
—Last year my potatoes rotted very badly. 
It was the first time the Blush had ever 
rotted on my farm. I have read a great 
deal about the danger of planting on ground 
where the previous crop rotted. I have 
read that the rotten tubers must be care¬ 
fully kept from ground to be planted this 
year; that the germs of the disease are not 
killed by the cold and will be all ready to 
spread this season; that no seed from a dis¬ 
eased crop should be planted; and I have 
seen terrible pictures of the rot in all its 
stages. When I manured five acres last 
year and planted them with potatoes I in¬ 
tended to manure again this spring and 
plant the same ground a^ain. I have done 
so. On four acres I planted my own seed, 
rejecting the rotten tubers ; on one acre I 
planted early potatoes and bought the 
seed. What will the harvest be ? My 
theory is this : The rot is caused by a cer¬ 
tain favorable condition of the atmosphere, 
just the same as mold on a piece of cheese. 
If this condition prevails, the potatoes will 
rot; if not, they will not. Now, what 
is the use of trying to get rid of the 
germs of the rot or to plant on new ground ? 
I had never lost potatoes by rot before, and 
the seed I planted came from the little 
tuber The Rural sent me years ago; so I 
did not import the germs, and yet there 
must have been billions of them and they 
appeared and got in their work in three 
weeks ! If my crop rots this year you may 
say I might have known it would. I say 
not. 
Chemical Fertilizers For Corn. 
D. C. Lewis, Middlesex County, New 
Jersey.— On page 325 of The Rural, I 
read a communication from H. B. B., 
Clyde, N. Y., referring to the productive¬ 
ness of a piece of land in growing wheat 
and corn under certain conditions. He tells 
us that he uses phosphate in the hill as a 
starter, and that then the crop depends 
upon yard manure. It appears to me that 
the soil must be largely deficient in phos¬ 
phoric acid, when so slight an application 
of superphosphate will with the yard man¬ 
ure give a fair crop of corn. H. B. B., says 
that with the phosphate alone his corn crop 
is practically a failure; now why Is it a 
failure without yard manure? He has no 
ammonia or potash to draw upon; but with 
the yard manure he has all the elements of 
plant food and hence a fair yield. 
I had occasion one year since to visit 
Dutchess County, N. Y., near Barrytown, 
and stopped with a farmer a short time. I 
found that all the people thereabouts had 
very economical ideas of the use of fertili¬ 
zers. H. B. B. speaks of growing corn 
with phosphates alone; by that I should 
conclude he was practically using but one 
element of plant food, and that phosphoric 
acid. He does not tell how much yard 
manure is applied with the 160 pounds of 
phosphate. If I knew these facts, and 
whether he used complete fertilizers or the 
ordinary superphosphate, I could better 
judge as to the treatment of this particular 
soil. If he would come where we are farm¬ 
ing, he would see what large quantities of 
fertilizers we use for corn when no yard 
manure is used. I would not use less than 
500 pounds per acre on fairly productive 
soil. I would supply the elements of plant 
food in the same proportions as they are 
taken up to produce a crop of corn. In ad¬ 
dition to say 10 good loads of manure per 
acre applied last July to the sod, I shall 
apply 300 pounds of corn manure per acre 
and shall have fair expectations of more 
than an average yield of corn. 
From the Wrong School. 
‘‘Jonathan Hayseed.”— In connection 
with the failure of the Washington Na¬ 
tional Bank of New York City, the question 
naturally arises, “ Is it possible for men to 
honestly use other people’s means intrusted 
to their keeping who have been for years 
intimately associated with men like Jay 
Gould,” as is the case with two of the offi¬ 
cers of this legally swindled Washington 
Bank ? What was the cashier about when 
he saw the funds vanishing, that he did not 
call a halt ? But he was brought up in the 
wrong school. There is surely something 
which would naturally suggest Itself to 
wise men of the world, in the impropriety 
of any one holding an important position 
of trust, who has been spending most of his 
mature years as the pliant, scheming rep¬ 
resentative of a class of men more design¬ 
ing and stronger than himself. 
Vote Against Golden Rod. 
D. P. Horton, Suffolk County, N. 
Y.—Now that Arbor Day is again so 
near at hand, it is needful that all the 
pupils of our schools should be so taught 
that they will vote for a useful flower 
instead of helping to put forward a noxious 
weed. Last year multitudes voted for the 
golden rod because of its showy appear¬ 
ance. The craze concerning this pesky 
weed is promoted by those who seem not 
to know that it is a “ gay deceiver ” and a 
floral usurper. From my earliest recollec¬ 
tions it has been a nuisance about our 
homestead, which was settled 250 years 
ago. Last vacation I rode a mowing 
machine over broad acres to help subdue 
the golden rod, and this spring we have 
plowed a fine field which might have 
yielded a convenient pasturage. All through 
the coming summer it will be needful 
often to “ wield the strong plowshare and 
the faithful hoe,” in order that the golden 
rod may not keep back the potatoes, 
corn, Brussells-sprouts, etc. Why not 
vote for the beautiful clover f But if the 
contest is restricted to the rose and golden 
rod, by all means let us have the rose. 
R. N.-Y.—Clover is both useful and or¬ 
namental. 
Manure In the Rainless Regions. 
H. A. W., Chicago, III.—It is universal¬ 
ly claimed in the drought-stricken regions 
of Kansas and Nebraska that wherever 
manure is used upon the land the crops 
suffer more from drought and hot winds 
than where it is not. In Wyoming many 
ranchmen hauled their manure (it is al¬ 
ways free from straw or hay there) into 
their natural meadows, and unless very 
thoroughly and continuously irrigated the 
crop was nearly a failure the first year. 
After that some meadows showed very 
good results. In all these three States 
hundreds of loads of manure are thrown 
into the caffons to be washed away by the 
rains. One large farmer in Nebraska told 
me that every load of manure put on his 
corn field and plowed in cost him more 
than two bushels of ears of corn. 
Killing Poultry.— Mr. W. B. Teget- 
meier, in an article on Farm Poultry in 
the current number of the Journal of 
the Royal Agricultural Society of Eng¬ 
land, as noted by the London Live Stock 
Journal, says, with regard to the mode of 
killing fowls intended for sale, that the 
almost universal practice in England is to 
break their necks. This should be done by 
seizing the legs of the fowl in the left hand 
and the head in the right, the back of the 
bird being upwards, and the comb in the 
hollow of the hand. If the legs of the bird 
are then held against the left hip and the 
head against the right thigh near the knee, 
by strongly extending the fowl, and at the 
same time bending the head suddenly back¬ 
wards, the latter is dislocated from the top 
of the neck, and death results instanta¬ 
neously, all the large vessels being torn 
across and the blood escaping into the 
skin of the neck. Muscular contractions, 
however, remain for some minutes, during 
which time the fowl, if put down, knocks 
itself about, bruising the flesh ; it should 
therefore be held in the hand or hung up 
by a string round the legs to a hook in the 
ceiling. The fowl having been killed should 
be plucked whilst warm ; in fact, the pro¬ 
fessional killers proceed to remove the 
feathers immediately after dislocating the 
neck, as they then come out very easily 
and the skin does not tear. There is no 
cruelty in doing this, even if it be before 
the muscular contractions have ceased, as 
the head of the fowl is removed from the 
body, being connected only by the skin, 
and all sensation is at an end. When care¬ 
fully plucked the fowls should be placed 
on their backs, the hocks being tied to¬ 
gether, the wings twisted behind the back, 
and the neck allowed to hang down so that 
the fluid blood accumulates in it. Under 
no circumstances should the breast bone be 
broken, as it deteriorates very much the 
value of the fowl. It is needless to say that 
the legs and feet, if they are soiled, should 
be washed before the birds are sent to mar¬ 
ket. 
BRIEFS. 
Luther Burbank, of Santa Rosa, Cal., 
is devoting his life and fortune to the im¬ 
provement of fruits and ornamental plants 
by seedling cultivation. 
In a private letter he writes: ‘‘I have 
just read your careful description of some 
(Continued on next page.) 
Advertisers treat all correspondents 
well if they mention The Rural New- 
Yorker 
Makes the 
Weak Strong 
The way in which Hood’s Sarsaparilla builds up 
people in run down or weakened state of health, 
conclusively proves the claim that this medicine 
“makes the weak strong” It does not act like a 
stimulant, imparting fictitious strength from which 
there must follow a reaction of greater weakness 
than before, but in tfce most natural way Hood's 
Sarsaparilla overcomes that tired feeling, creates an 
appetite, purifies the blood, and in short, gives great 
bodily, nerve, mental and digestive strength. 
Hoods 
Sarsaparilla 
Sold by all druggists. *1 : six for $5. Prepared only 
by C. I. HOOD & CO , Lowell, Mass. 
IOO Doses One Dollar 
Ever^MotheR 
Sliould Have ii in Tlie Honsc. 
Dropped on Sugar, Children Love 
to take Johnson’s Anodyne Liniment for Croup,Colds, 
Sore Throat, Tonsilitis, Colic, Cramps and Pains. Re¬ 
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magic. Sold everywhere. Price 35c. by mail; 6 bottles 
Express paid, $3. LS. JOHNSON & CO., Boston, Mass. 
BEST-COUGH-MEDICINE J 
-CURES WHERE ALL ELSE FAILS. 
iastea good. Use it in time. 
Sold by Druggists. 
FOB. - eONSUMPIlOU 
THE GREAT ENGLISH REMEDY, 
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For Bilious nJ Nervous Disorders. 
“Worth a Guinea a Box” bnt sold 
for 25 Cents, 
nY ALL DRUGGISTS. 
The Spangler Corn Planter 
for planting corn in hills or 
drills, and sowing corn for 
ensilage ; also the Spangler 
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Fertilizer Distributors, Lime 
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Shellers, Feed Cutters, Land 
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Illustrated Catalogue. 
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Patented March 11, 1S60. 
Porter’s 
Solid 
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This track can be made with curves or with a 
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Send for circulars and ask your dealer for this track 
and carrier. 
J. E. PORTER, Ottawa, Ill. 
ENSILAGE 
The SILO is rapidly being adopted In all 
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